
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



opyri glit 7$o,h.QM 



UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



THE PLUMB-LINE 



LAID TO THE WALL; 



OR, 



THE PHYSICAL LAWS REVEALED IIS 
THE SACRED SCRIPTURES. 



/ 



BY BEN RANDALS. 

i\ 

SEP 7 1997 

Nashville, Tenn.: 

Publishing House of the M. E. Church, South. 

Barbee & Smith, Agents. 

1897. 



1?5 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1897, 
By Ben Randals, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



DEDICATION. 



This Little Volume Is Affectionately Dedicated 

Co /I&e Wife, Sallie IRanoals, 

As a Token of My Very Great Love, and as a Proof That 

I Am Not Unmindful of the Patience 

She Extended to Me in My Neglect of Home Affairs 

While Writing Up Its Contents. 

Affectionately, 

Ben Randals. 

("0 ■ 



PREFACE. 



This work, with its many imperfections, is submitted to the 
public. The story of why we selected these topics for a life- 
work would make our Preface too long, and be largely com- 
posed of the story of the author's self. We submit the work, 
asking no charity to hide its faults. We give a few broken 
passages, and, though the connection is in no way related to 
our topics, yet if you grant to the words in these passages 
meanings that are acceptable to-day, and without which these 
words would be meaningless,, you will discern even in these the 
tintings of in piration. The Bible is the most wonderfully il- 
lustrative book ever given to the world. We will furnish you 
with sentences of but a few words, that, were we to illustrate 
their interpretations and simply draw the illustrations sug- 
gested by the individual words and the whole combined, you 
would s ee that no circus was ever more abundantly or more pro- 
fusely advertised or illustrated. We never refer you to the Bi- 
ble or to the sciences. We give you the book, chapter, and the 
toxt, and, when necessary to refer to the text, we repeat it. We 
then comment. Then we give the teachings of our scientists. 
Each reader may be judge, for the testimony of both is before 
him. Do not understand that we hold rig'dly to the above 
order, but strictly to the above truths. Sometimes we make 
the scientific statement first; then come with our Bible text and 
comment afterward. We vary thii arrangement to suit the 
trend of the thought and to prevent monotony. Where a passage 
supports, unmistakably, a particular theory, and, at the same 
time, thoughts on some closely related topic, or even a foreign 
one, we deal with that first which is more closely connected 
with the topic under consideration. Then we invest : gate those 
other features. This very oTten whl give the work the appear- 
ance of a lack of unity. What we may apparently lose in uni- 
ty will b3 compensated by fruit from adjoining or even distant 
vineyards. In referring to Job we sometimes mean the book 

0") 



VI THE PLUMB-LINE. 

for the man, or even some one else, from the fact that it is a 
statement found in the book of Job. We believe that all sci- 
ence, all human learning, is couched in the Bible. The effort 
is to classify Bible science and Bible learning from Bible au- 
thors, as developed from their statements, and then to orderly- 
arrange these statements, adopting as titles of subjects the names 
given by the scientific world. The plumb-line we conceive to 
be science. The wall is the massive masonry of God's works 
as seen in the things which he has created, formed, and made, 
from the atom to the world, to our systems, to all the systems, 
to the motions and forces, and the laws that govern them, from 
the organ to its functions, to the invisible forces transmitted by 
these organs to the inner receptacle where dwell immortal forces, 
a living combination of faculties having the image of God him- 
self. God stands on this wall and holds out the plumb-line. 
The object of this work is to lay this line (science) to this wall 
(inspiration's statements), and ask you to see how gently it 
touches from top to bottom, from end to end, wherever applied. 
In many places I can see the wall rise high and grand, but to 
me the line is lost. May God in his infinite mercy and wisdom 
raise up one who can and will show the line, and will swing it 
to every angle, to every face, and to every height, and prove 
him ! We very often give the dates when these thoughts were 
sent forth by inspiration, and when first promulgated by the 
world. Not one time has the promulgation made by the world 
antedated that made by inspiration. Not one time can the sim- 
plest or most learned skeptic claim for science a precedent. 

The Author. 

Sipe Springs, Tex., February 5, 1897. 



TO THE BEADEB. 



Was the Bible given by inspiration? You answer that it 
was. Then each sentence also was the gift of inspiration ; if that 
be true, then so was each clause, phrase, and word. "Words 
make sentences; individual words contain all the thought. 
Then to study this book of inspirations we have but to study 
each word. Inspiration never generalizes one single time. Its 
office is to particularize, individualize. Understand what the 
word means, then apply it rightly; it will always give a true 
Bible conclusion, and one that will conflict with no scientific 
truth, nor with itself. I know some good men who make — and 
deservedly, too — some pretensions to scholarship that when 
questions pertaining to science and the Bible are brought up 
turn off with an " 0, well," and put on a look as if to say that 
it is not safe for the Bible to be looking after that. 

Afraid to investigate a book acknowledged by all Christian 
people to be the work of inspiration, from one that says He is 
perfect in knowledge! God says that he made the earth and 
all things therein, and I'm afraid to investigate the matter for 
fear that it may not measure up to that standard. the 
power of unbelief! I satisfy myself with a general old-rut use 
of terms, keeping up an outward appearance, with a heart full 
of misgivings on this matter. I asked a good man: "What is 
meant by ends cf the earth." He answered: "All the face of 
the earth." " Then," said I, " what is meant by end f " " 0, 
well," said he, "any one place on the earth." "Well, what is 
meant by breadth of the earth? " " Well, it is similar to ends ; 
it, too, means all the earth." This is what I call " old rutisms ; " 
an insult to inspiration, a dishonor to a Christian world. A 
strange inspiration that would use terms so recklessly, with 
meanings so flexible. The strongest proof of inspiration is the 
exactness of the words used. No ordinary writer of this day 
can afford to send out an art"cle as meaningless as our friend's 
Bible definitions. End means end, not side, nor face, but the 
extremity of the longer side of a thing. Find that point, and, 
if talking about the earth, drive a stake till the lower end of it 
reaches the internal fires of the earth. When end is mentioned 
again, go back to your stake, and you will be right, not only 

(vii) 



Vlll THE PLUMB-LINE. 

once, but every time. When it says breadth, go to the extrem- 
ity of the earth's shorter diameter and let your stake down 
again, with every assurance that you are right; you will never 
miss it. How little we value inspiration when we fail to give 
to each word precisely what it means! Words are often ser- 
mons, very often. Give this work a word interpretation. Let 
your Bible study be a word work. Solomon says: "Bow down 
thine ear, and hear the words of the wise, and apply thine 
heart unto my knowledge. For it is a pleasant thing if thou 
keep them within thee; they shall withal be fitted in thy lips. 
That thy trust may be in the Lord, I have made known to thee 
this day, even to thee. Have not I written to thee excellent 
things in counsels and knowledge, that I might make thee 
know the certainty of the words of truth; that thou mightest an- 
swer the words of truth to them that send unto thee?" The 
very Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us. Every thought 
is but the kernel, of which the word is the shell. Break these 
shells gently, but surely, and the richness of a precious kernel 
is yours. 

Suppose that we could find in the Bible a country named and 
described, the description of which was precisely that of this 
country, as given by our geographers ; that it lay between the 
same parallels and the same meridians as does this country; 
that the general shape of the land was as the shape of this con- 
tinent; that it lay between two oceans, the one on the east and 
the other on the west, with a great gulf on the south; that it 
had a great mountain chain along its eastern and a greater 
chain along its western border; that it had a river system to 
the northeast, one in the south, another in the southwest, and 
still another to the northwest; that thi3 description entered 
into detail far enough to give the sources of these rivers, their 
courses, and their mouths; that it gave the positions of thou- 
sands of cities similarly situated as are many of our cities, 
with surroundings in every respect the same; that this account 
describes the people, their language, laws, and religions. If I 
should ask you how this came about, to explain how it came to 
be w T ritten so many years ago, who Could know such things? 
There could possibly be left to you but one solution. Inspira- 
tion alone could have done this — so we think. We have tried 
to make our proof of inspiration along this line, or by a similar 



TO THE HEADER. IX 

process. All the subjects discussed in this book are discussed 
from Bible texts. These texts every time antedate, very often 
thousands of years, any mention made of them by the world. 
Like the description of our country as above, who could say 
that the earth was round a thousand years before man knew 
it — any man? Who could say that the earth turned on its axis 
four thousand years before any man dreamed of such a thing? 
God alone, directly, or through his inspired instruments. 

Let us first compare some of the statements made against the 
Bible to some strange facts found in our school-books. I am told 
that the Bible contradicts itself, that it does not stand to reason. 
Some years ago I saw in a paper a notice proposing to send 
twelve contradictions, found in the Bible, for twenty-five cents. 
I repeated: "Only twelve contradictions in my Bible.'' I was 
not a reader of the Bible, consequently had no extra supply of 
piety, and really thought that there were not only hundreds, 
but that the whole was a bundle of contradictions. Have you 
never noticed that when a man changes his Church fellowship 
he stills the public mind by: "I got to reading for myself." 
That's the plan. I repeated again: "Only twelve contradic- 
tions ! " That shocked my infidelity, and gave me faith to read 
for m} T self. I reasoned that if all the remainder were free from 
contradictions, I could find enough to boat over to the land of 
no contradictions. I thought again that perhaps the finder of 
these errors had sought for errors only; that the life of his 
business, twenty-five cents a dozen, was in a measure the great 
feature to him. Then maybe there are only eleven. The 
finder being soulless, it could make no difference to him if all 
were errors. A living soul, floundering in one, has something 
to do with bias in truth and morals. I thought that the per- 
version of truth through moneyed interest might prompt to the 
adding of one. This reduced the number to ten. Then could 
not this searcher, like other men, make a mistake to the re- 
duction of one? This reduced the number to nine. I felt that 
the Bible in places, in its childish simplicity, had so far under- 
shot this mentor that he could not reduce himself even to the 
loss of one. Now, then, there are in reality only eight. I 
thought that perhaps one of these might be reconciled by going 
back to the original tongue. That, you see, reduces this num- 
ber fairly to seven. This, you know, is a sacred number, and I 



X THE PLUMB-LINE. 

felt all right. I thought then of a friend's story, told when I 
was a boy. This friend told that on one occasion his father 
promised to take him and his brothers fishing when a certain 
piece of fodder was stripped. The boys speculated on this 
wise, that they could strip faster by each stripping one row at 
a time. They made one through; then they thought that in 
nearly the same time each might have stripped two rows. So 
the next through each stripped two rows. This was an im- 
provement. So the next through each took three rows. This 
was also a success. After fanning for a moment the father 
said : " Boys, there are only seven rows for each ; let's breast it." 
So they did. Now we have our contradictions and errors reduced 
to seven. Breast it; we'll have time to go fishing then. Only 
seven errors in a book of a thousand double-column pages, 
written by thirty or more different authors, covering hundreds 
of thousands of topics; a book of sixty-six books (we omit the 
Apocrypha), twelve hundred chapters, thirty thousand verses, 
seven hundred thousand words, covering a period of five thou- 
sand years, written under every vicissitude of fortune; when 
favor and fear were weighed in doubtful balance ; when writing 
was young; an age clouded by moral and scientific superstition; 
before the arts were born ; before science had ever looked up 
or around; a book translated from tongue to tongue; sold as a 
curious story; stolen, a prey in war, buried, burned; its adher- 
ents and promulgators staked, stoned, and burned. Let us re- 
view the track that reason has left. We will review its simpler 
things and see how they harmonize. Let us go back to the 
history of our own country. Select from any number of au- 
thors on the history of the United States, going back to its dis- 
covery; or bring in all. Now this period will not exceed the 
time that Israel remained in Egypt. Is there a man so silly 
who will say that hundreds of contradictions can not be found? 
Now in the close of the nineteenth century as we look back to 
the days of witchcraft in our country, tell me what account 
given in the Bible is less inviting, and one that it did not con- 
demn having such a nature. Do you see the pillory, the stocks, 
and ducking-board? Do you find the code of honor whose mer- 
chandise is death and its subscriber a wretch? An eye for an 
eye beats that. The wretch who had time to become skilled in 
taking human life stood ready to provoke that he might ply 



TO THE READER. XI 

his skill, and an approving country clapped hands when new 
victims fell. Any such contradictions as that in the Bible? 

I have before me two histories written by different authors. 
One says: 'All of Manhattan Island, where New York now 
stands, was purchased for trinkets worth twenty-four dollars." 
The other says that it was bought for twenty-five dollars. Let 
us interpret the first quotation above; let us see what the peo- 
ple four thousand years to come will make of it. "That Man- 
hattan Island was purchased for trinkets. That when made 
into trinkets these will only be worth twenty-four dollars. The 
magnitude of such trinkets will revive the story of giants, and 
we be classed among the giants. How am I to know Whether 
Manhattan Island was purchased with trinkets or twenty-five 
dollars? This is a contradiction. There is no Manhattan, nor 
was it ever purchased." (Reason.) 

How much philosophy can you squeeze from all these his- 
tories before us? You can not find in all one-half that is found 
in several chapters of the Bible. Draw now the sciences of that 
period around the histories of that period, and all combined 
will not furnish the learning and philosophy offered by the 
thirty-eighth chapter of the book of Job; and this book was 
written three thousand years before Columbus was born. The 
writers of the Bible were the scribes of inspiration ; the writers 
of history are very often the scribes of interest, of sectional 
preferment; very often scribes for money. Either of the last 
would incline a pen, if it did not seriously bend it. Let us pre- 
sent you with a case in point, one that will not take other his- 
tories to prove. Take the moneyed provision of the Blair Bill. 
That was a good thing. Why did the South not accept it? 
Why should the North present such a bill? Why should the 
North ask a monopoly in telling to the rising generations the 
tale of our late war? Was it the only true story? Why should 
the South object? Was the story not fairly told? Do we have 
two different stories of one and the same period in which each 
had his part in every scene and act? In a few thousand years 
how can the world reconcile these varying reports from one 
and the same household? Every struggle has its adverse 
parties, and furnishes its adverse stories. Inspiration had none 
of this. To-day will hand down its contradictions. We sus- 
pect and are suspected ; we condemn and are condemned. We 



Xll THE PLUMB-LINE. 

are a people of varying versions. Could we rid ourselves of 
these characteristics, then we would face a new heaven and a 
new earth, and the glories of a higher and a better life would 
stream down upon us as freely as the never-failing sunshine by 
day, and the lurings from the declarations of God's glory, as 
they ceaselessly fall upon us from the stars by night, .become 
inspirations more surely, and with less variations point out the 
line of life than the best-devised compass can direct a ship's 
course through the trackless ocean. 

Let us examine our geographies. They say : " The rivers of 
Pennsylvania, contrary to the ordinary geographical laws, 
cleave through the mountains." I reject this because it does 
not stand to reason — my reason, of course. Therefore, there is 
no Pennsylvania. Geography also teaches that the Ohio and 
its northern tributaries are lower than the mouth of the Cum- 
berland. Then the Ohio and its tributaries run up-hill to the 
mouth of the Cumberland ; and these streams are wilful, phys- 
ical law-breakers. Is this a contradiction ? Say, does this stand 
to reason — your reason, not mine? This does away with the 
authenticity of the Ohio River or geographical laws. I am told 
that recent calculations vary the sun's distance from the old 
figures. Is it possible that this error has been kept in our old- 
est sciences, in our most learned books, and that for three or 
four hundred years? How can this be if science is inflexible 
and reason infallible? Let us carry this thought to the pri- 
mary department, to the kindergarten; let us turn to Webster's 
"Speller." We find the words "center" or "centre," "niter" 
or "nitre," "meter" or "metre." Is Mr. Webster able to teach 
with certainty either mode of spelling the above words ? Can 
you tell the true orthography of either of these words? What 
would you say to the little one in the A, B, C book? This is 
purely an admission on the part of our best lexicographer that 
here is a contradiction that confronts us, even in the very be- 
ginning of a learned life. I am told that Webster and Worces- 
ter differ materially in the spelling of certain words. Does this 
allow the assertion that Webster and Worcester are impostors 
on the learned world ? Can we reject their valuable diction- 
aries on this fact. Let us take the spelling of "phthisic." No- 
where in the Bible are we more heavily taxed to believe its 
statements than are the little beginners in a literary life to ac- 



TO THE EEADEE. Xlll 

cept the above. If our faith had depended on the above spell- 
ing, a much larger per cent of the human family would be sac- 
rificing to other gods than are at the present time. 

A paradox is something that seems unreasonable, yet is 
true. Our physical sciences are full of paradoxes. This is only 
a fault of myself. My comprehension only makes a thing par- 
adoxical to me, whether it be a scientific or Biblical question. 
A correct comprehension removes every paradox. The shades 
and colors from a picture do not depend more upon the colors 
or the Mendings made by the brush than the observer's posi- 
tion and whence falls the light. Put yourself in the very best 
position possible to see the Bible, where the light will have its 
highest effect; then for twelve contradictions you would not 
think it unsafe to offer a million dollars. 

The Bible comes down through fifty centuries. It has its 
paradoxes that can be removed by a change of position. Sci- 
ence may go up through fifty more. To those improperly 
placed it will have its paradoxes. The center of gravity of the 
one is the center of gravity of the other, and will never change. 
Harmony will still be the law of stability in both. 

One suggested that we should submit this work to critical 
scholars, that the original tongue be consulted, that in the re- 
vision perhaps the true meaning of the original was not 
kept up. The Bible is God's word, his gift to man for man's 
good and his glory. "We have but to casually glance over the 
nations of the earth to determine the truth that the most en- 
lightened nations are Bible-reading and Bible-publishing na- 
tions. Whatever of elevation the world enjoys to-day is due to 
this Book. This Book has not filled its mission yet. It w r as 
not given to one nation nor one age. It is as much a gift to 
this generation, and more so, as to the first, from the fact that 
a new and a more recent edition has been added. The fact 
that it is God's Book, his gift, is evidence to me that he is able 
and willing to take care of it, and that he will do it as he has 
in ages past. Would he put into the hearts of men what to 
write at first, for purposes that are not yet accomplished, and 
then not watch his purpose through its revision? I as much 
believe that he supervised its revision as I do that he gave the 
first copies. The thought that God would lose his Book or suffer 
its words perversely revised is pure blasphemy. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER I. Pagr 

Selections from the Bible— Creation — Order of Earth Trans- 
formations — Time, Vast Periods — When and How the 
Sea Was Formed — Universal Sea at First — March of the 
Sea to Its Decreed Place — Appearance of the Dry Land 
— The Ocean the Storehouse and Library — Geology Rec- 
ommended — Surface of the Land under the Sea — Waves, 
Waterspouts, Tides, and Their Causes — Ocean Currents. 1 

CHAPTER II. 
Let There Be Light — Light a Preparation — The Sun Not a 
Separate Formation as the Earth and Other Planets, but 
a Preparation — The Sun and Its Fruits — The Moon and 
Stars— The Great Flight of Arcturus 32 

CHAPTER III. 

The Earth Is Round — The Sea Is Circular — The Size of 
the Earth Compared to the Balance — Bible Illustrations 
by Comparison — Specific Gravity of the Earth Obtained 
by Our Method for Obtaining Specific Gravity — How 
the Lands Stand with Reference to the Seas and the 
Tides — ■ Earthquakes and Volcanoes — Central Fires — 
The United States and Britain in Prophecy 49 

CHAPTER IV. 

Descriptive Geography — Frigid Zone — Arctic Circle Traced 
— The World's Explorations in Arctic Climes the Sub- 
ject of Prophecy — By Prophecy This Region Was Sur- 
veyed, Its Bounds Were Given — Also Its Geographical 
Features, Its Animal and Vegetable Life — Bering and 
Davis Straits Noted and Located — Also Those Dangerous 
Ice-Bound Straits High Up in Arctic Lands — 'The Source 
of the Winds and the Cold Ocean Currents — Warm Cur- 
rents—The Pole, 68 

CHAPTER V. 

Winds, Where and How Produced — The Air Has Weight, 
How Determined — The Buoyant Force of the Air — The 
Constant, Variable, and Periodical Winds — Vapors, Rain, 
How Produced — Lightning — Rainbow — Ice — Storms 91 

CHAPTER VI. 
Conduction, Reflection, Absorption — Steam — Steam-Engine 
— Cars — Express-Train — Electricity — Telegraph and 
Telephone 108 

(xv) 



XVI THE PLUMB-LINE. 

CHAPTER VII. page 

Indestructibility — Change of Earth's Surface — Vegetable 
Kingdom — Samson Burning the Wheat-Fields — Iron 
Chemically Considered 135 

CHAPTER VIII. 
A Psalm Translated into the Law of Gravitation — The 
Sun's Motion Along a Circuit — David and Newton Com- 
pared 144 

CHAPTER IX. 

Influence of Gravity — Result Should This Force Fail — Gen- 
eral Ruin Will Follow the Dissolution of This Force — 
The Fall of Worlds Illustrated.. . 189 

CHAPTER X. 

Motion — Cause of Day and Night — Sun's Place — Rotation of 
the Earth on Its Axis — Its Motion About the Sun — 
Planetary Orbits Elliptical — The Three Laws of Kepler 
Illustrated — Obliquity of the Ecliptic — The Sun Rises 
and Sets Always within the Tropics — Motion and Rest 
Absolute and Relative — Rest only Relative — Theory of 
Systems Taught — The Sun's Motion through Space — The 
Earth a Star — Supplement to Rotation of the Earth — 
The Sun and Stars Do Not Rise and Set by Their Own 
Motions — In Fact, Every Feature That Is Taught by As- 
tronomers When Dispensing the Great Motions of Plan- 
ets and Systems — Honor to Whom Honor Is Due 222 

CHAPTER XI. 

Who We Are, and What We Are — Man — Assets of His 
Wealth — Circulation of the Blood — Spinal Cord — The 
Body before and after Death — After Death the Body Is 
to Be Broken Up by Physical and Chemical Forces and 
Scattered— Will Be Collected When the Earth Gives Up 
the Dead— Faith 295 

CHAPTER XII. 

Joshua at Gibeon — The Miraculous Standing Still of the 
Sun, and the Stoppage of the Moon — The Foolishness of 
the World's Theory Touching This Miracle — Joshua's 
Knowledge Exceeded the Knowledge of the World Till 
the Nineteenth Century — Is Not Inferior to That — A 
Physical and a Spiritual Miracle — The Unsolved Ques- 
tion Solved — Light the Cause of Planetary Motion 324 

CHAPTER XIII. 

Political Contrast— Rain-Making— A Prophecy Being Ful- 
filled — Vegetable Diet against Meat and Wine— A Lit- 
eral Devil— His First Estate 345 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 



CHAPTEE I. 

Selections from the Bible — Creation — Order of Earth Trans- 
formations — Time, Vast Periods — When and How the Sea 
"Was Formed — Universal Sea at First— March of the Sea to 
Its Decreed Place — Appearance of the Dry Land — The 
Ocean the Storehouse and Library — Geology Recommended 
— Surface of the Land under the Sea — Waves, Waterspouts, 
Tides, and Their Causes — Ocean Currents. 

Selections feom the Bible. 

Psalms: "I meditate on all thy works; I muse on 
the work of thy hands." "Open thou mine eyes, 
that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law." 
"Make me to understand the way of thy precepts; so 
shall I talk of thy wondrous works." " So shall I have 
wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me: for I 
trust in thy word." "I will speak of thy testimonies 
also before kings, and will not be ashamed." "The 
earth, O Lord, is full of thy mercy, teach me thy 
statutes." " Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonder- 
ful works which thou hast done, and thy thoughts 
which are to us ward." "They cannot be reckoned 
up in order unto thee: if I would declare and speak 
of them, they are more than can be numbered." 

Ecclesiastes: " I gave my heart to seek and search 
out by wisdom concerning all things that are done 
under heaven: this sore travail hath God given to 
the sons of men to be exercised therewith." 

0) 



A THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Bomans : " For whatsoever things are written 
aforetime were written for our learning, that we 
through patience and comfort of the Scriptures 
might have hope." 

Wisdom of Solomon: " Surely vain are all men by 
nature, who are ignorant of God, and could not out of 
the good things that are seen know him that is: nei- 
ther by considering the works did they acknowledge 
the workmaster. But deemed either fire, or wind, or 
swift air, or the circle of the stars, or the violent water, 
or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which govern 
the world. With whose beauty if they being delight- 
ed took them to be gods; let them know how much bet- 
ter the Lord of them is: for the first author of beau- 
ty hath created them. But if they were astonished 
at their power and virtue, let them understand by 
them how much mightier he is that made them. For 
by the greatness and beauty of the creatures, propor- 
tionably the maker of them is seen." 



The earth's creation and its shape, and the changes 
preparatory to fit it for life are told by astronomers 
thus: All the matter which now composes the sun 
and the various planets, with their moons, was in a 
gaseous and highly heated state. It filled all the 
space now occupied by the system, and extended far 
beyond the orbit of Neptune. In other words, the 
solar system was simply an immense nebula. The 
particles of matter, a,s the repellant force weakened, 
began to seek a center, following the law seen in the 
whirlpool, whirlwind, or water poured into a funnel; 
rotary motion was established in the mass. With 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 3 

the decrease o£ the repellant force the rotary motion 
increased till the centrifugal force overcame the 
centripetal force, and the exterior part was thrown 
off. Then a second, third, fourth, and on till one by 
one our planets take their places each in its orbit, re- 
volving in the same plane and moving in the same 
direction. The earth passes from a formless mass to 
that of a sphere. Then comes the sea, then the moun- 
tains. Let us see how revelation will tell its story of 
these great creations and formations. Proverbs viii. 
22-30: "The Lord possessed me in the beginning of 
his way, before his works of old. I was set up from 
everlasting, from the beginning, or ever the earth 
was. When there were no depths, I was brought 
forth; when there were no fountains abounding with 
water. Before the mountains were settled, before 
the hills was I brought forth: while as yet he had 
not made the earth, nor the fields, nor the highest 
part of the dust of the world. When he prepared 
the heavens, I was there: when he set a compass 
upon the face of the depth : when he established 
the clouds above : wdien he strengthened the foun- 
tains of the deep: when he gave to the sea his decree, 
that the waters should not pass his commandment: 
when he appointed the foundations of the earth. 
Then I was by him, as one brought up with him: 
and I was daily his delight, rejoicing always before 
him." 

While this lesson recites the story of the earth 
from times prior to its being earth till it was earth, 
till the seas were poured out upon it, till the hills were 
settled and the highest mountains raised, the whole 
story as it advances from period to period is offered 



4 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

as proof of the wonderful age of Wisdom. Upon 
this fact in the 32d verse we are earnestly entreat- 
ed to hearken to the lessons taught by Wisdom : 
"Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children." 
" The Lord possessed me in the beginning of his way, 
before his works of old." 

"The beginning of his way" is explained by the 
phrase "before his works of old." Not the begin- 
ning of God's existence, but the beginning of his 
work of old, his first work, a work done prior to that 
mentioned in the opening verse of the Bible, the 
astronomer's story of the creation of our system, a 
work begun when emptiness and silence held space, 
uncontested by a single atom, unlit by a single ray 
of light. Moses says that there was another work. 
His mode of calling our minds to this truth is sug- 
gestive. Genesis i. 16: "And God made two great 
lights ; the greater light to rule the day, and the less- 
er light to rule the night: he made the stars also." 
While Moses is reciting the story of the creation of 
our system and the order of the earth's transforma- 
tions we should know that he had another work that 
preceded this one: "He made the stars also." 

"I was set up from everlasting, from the begin- 
ning, or ever the earth was." Two great periods 
are here named: everlasting and beginning, and in 
the order of their occurrence. In the first of these, 
perhaps, God did his work of old. The later period, 
you see, is subdivided, a part having gone before the 
earth appeared. This suggests to our minds the as- 
tronomer's theory, that our system wa^ created as a 
whole and remained one undivided mass for a great 
period before it was earth. Here the Bible begins 



THE PLUMB-LINE. b 

its wonderful statements: "In the beginning God 
created the heaven and the earth [solar system]. 
And the earth was without form." 

"Or ever the earth was." From the time of the 
creation of the material of the system, while the 
earth mingled with the mass, was its formless pe- 
riod. This period was sufficiently long to be enu- 
merated with other great periods, or a subdivision 
of one, and long enough to exemplify Wisdom's 
great age. If this covered only twenty-four of our 
hours, then Wisdom's boast of her age is a decep- 
tion. After Moses recites the story of the creation 
of our system, he proceeds to cut it: "And the Spirit 
of God moved upon the face of the waters. And 
God said, Let there be light: and there was light." 

Before the forces which do work in and with matter 
were named, all the changes wrought over matter were 
attributed directly to God himself. In some few in- 
stances we see certain influences ascribed to his or- 
dinances, or laws. Asa Christian people we attribute 
all things directly to God, through his laws, which 
the prophet Isaiah calls God's servants. " Spirit of 
God moved upon the face of the waters." " Spirit." 
The life, the strength of resemblance, moved, ex- 
cited to action. 

All the planets outside the earth, together with it, 
filled with, excited to action in the strength of re-, 
semblance to, God's Spirit, took their places each in 
its respective orbit, full of life and motion. The 
moment these fly loose, light springs up to the earth, 
which could not be the case prior to its separation. 
It is only light — no sun ; 'tis but the blaze from the 
residue, parent of worlds. 



6 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

" When there were no depths I was brought forth." 
This is, without question, the second great physical 
transformation. It was first the earth; then the sea 
followed. This was the second day's work, calling for 
the firmament, separating the waters, collecting the 
sea. Wisdom here takes cognizance of the time that 
drops between the formations, rather than to the time 
consumed in the formation itself. Now this was 
sufficiently long to add to Wisdom's age, and it fur- 
nishes proof of this fact. 

"When there were no fountains abounding with 
water." This topic, you see, while it could only have 
reached from the time of the coming of the sea till 
fountains appear, adds to Wisdom's age. If the six 
days theory— days of twenty-four hours — be true, then 
this could not have exceeded a few hours. Could 
this in any way illustrate her long continuance with 
God, the Creator and Former of all things? Had 
all these intervening times consumed but six of our 
days, then Wisdom's boast, in a great measure, would 
cover only one hundred and forty-four hours. This 
period is covered by the period mentioned by astron- 
omers. That when the first condensation fell upon 
the earth it was highly heated, sufficiently so to con- 
vert this ocean of water to vapor and send it up 
again. It thus rose and fell till the earth was suffi- 
ciently cooled to stop its vaporization. So we do not 
wonder at Wisdom's attention being called to it. 

"Before the mountains were settled, before the 
hills was I brought forth." The next earth modifi- 
cation. The above statement makes plain the truth 
that the hills were made by the settling of the moun- 
tains, and, consequently, older. Geologists tell us 



THE PLUMB-LINE. i 

that when the earth was young its crust was thin; 
that mountains thrown up by the force of expanding 
gases and vapors fell back to an unstable crust, one 
not able to support these elevations. Thus gradually 
they settled back; the process was repeated through 
centuries, the crust growing thicker all the while, 
till it reaches a thickness which is able to support 
these elevations, though slight at first, making the 
oldest mountains the lowest; while the younger and 
more recent ones tower above their elders. How 
could Solomon know that the settling of the moun- 
tains made our oldest elevations? Again this period 
was sufficiently long to receive the notice of Wisdom. 

" While as yet he had not made the earth, nor the 
fields, nor the highest part of the dust of the world." 
The three great periods — before he made the earth, 
from the time of its creation, till from this nebular 
he made or formed the earth; before he made the 
fields (seas); before the sea in vapor had gone up 
from the earth to our present firmament; before he 
made the highest part of the dust of the world- 
highest mountains. Solomon reiterates the prece- 
ding order, condensed, maintaining the true geologic 
order. 

"When he prepared the heavens, I was there." 
Heretofore Wisdom rather emphasizes the time that 
elapses between events. Now she refers directly to 
the time consumed in making transformations, and 
this too is offered as evidence of added age. The 
preparation of the heavens — aerial heavens — consist- 
ed in separating the waters that were under the 
firmament from the waters that were above the fir- 
mament. By this act the water and air were sepa- 



8 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

rated. The water drops upon the earth, and the air 
remains above it. 

" When he set a compass upon the face of the 
depth." This was the next thing in order after the 
sea was made. We know that the surface of the sea 
is circular. As sure as this is a truth, so sure is it 
that there was a time when this rounding took place. 
Wisdom was present when this was done, and even 
named the instrument used. This period added to 
her age. 

" When he established the clouds above." The 
sea is now ready for its purpose to help the world in 
its mission. Without the means for its dissemination 
it would be a useless appendage. The clouds are es- 
tablished for that purpose. 

" When he strengthened the fountains of the deep." 
After the clouds are established to scatter the waters 
of the sea some restrictions must be thrown round 
the fountains of the deep to prevent a water catas- 
trophe to this world by the breaking of the fountain, 
as the flood was produced. 

" When he gave to the sea his decree, that the wa- 
ters should not pass his commandment." This law is 
in some way closely connected with the foundations 
of the earth. 

"When he appointed the foundations of the earth." 
It is a fact that the same force that holds the sea in 
its bounds was appointed the foundations of the 
earth: gravity. Wisdom, after having mentioned 
these periods as durations inconceivable to us, closes 
by "I was by him, as one brought up with him: and 
I was daily his delight." Were these periods daily 
visitations? If so, then they were not the six days 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 9 

such as we have. Wisdom was his daily delight from 
the time the work began down through all earth 
transformations, even before the earth was. Closely 
connected with the later topics is, how the sea was 
made. 

By Bible statement we find the sea suspend- 
ed above the earth; immediately after it becomes 
earth, occupying the space now filled by our aerial 
firmament. Genesis i. 6: "And God said, Let there be 
a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide 
the waters from the waters." Geographers teach 
that at one time the sea was suspended in this same 
space. The time comes when the heat is no longer 
able to support these suspended vapors; vapors driv- 
en from the earth by its burnings, all the vapors that 
make the waters of the world, together with all the 
carbon and metals vaporized by the fierce heat min- 
gled in this suspended ocean. Under the tremendous 
pressure of the dense atmosphere the steam was 
precipitated. These dropped upon a red-hot earth, 
were instantly converted into vapor and rose again; 
again fell, arose and fell, how long we cannot tell, we 
can only say till the earth was cooled sufficiently to 
stop this so great vaporization, or till a sea covered 
the earth. This period was noted by Wisdom: 
"When he prepared the heavens I was there." 
Scientists make this precipitation instantaneous and 
simultaneous. Job's Lord makes it no less so. Job 
xxxviii. 8-11: "Or who shut up the sea with 
doors, when it brake forth, as if it had issued out of 
the womb? When I made the cloud the garment 
thereof, and thick darkness a swaddling-band for it, 
and brake up for it my decreed place, and set bars 



10 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and doors, and said, Hitherto slialt thou come, but 
no farther." Let us make a liberal interpretation of 
this text and particularize after. When the cloud 
was a garment for the sea, encircled it, and thick 
darkness a swaddling-band for it — at that time it 
broke forth from this cloudy garment and this swad- 
dling-band, as, or like, an issue from the womb; at 
that time it was shut up with doors, geographical 
features controlled as doors by a physical force. 
During all this time the sea bottom was being broken 
up to decreed bounds, bars and doors were being 
set. There were geographical features in one sense, 
and physical forces in another. 

" Who shut up the sea with doors, when it brake 
forth, as if it had issued out of the womb?" Then 
the sea was shut up with doors. A door is a 
thing that opens or closes a passage, or is the pas- 
sage. The force that opens or closes these doors 
must be some xohysical force. See doors and bars in 
another place. 

" When it brake forth, as if it had issued out of the 
womb." Do geographers make this precipitation 
more sudden ? Simultaneously this garment falls off, 
this band breaks, and a sea drops upon the earth as 
an issue from the womb. " Brake forth " illustrates 
the mode of separating the two oceans, the vapor 
from the air. No words can replace these. The 
temperature is falling, the air particles contract till 
the water breaks forth. 

"Thick darkness a swaddling-band for it [sea]." 
We said above that with the waters that make our 
seas, lakes, rivers, etc., were mingled all the metals, 
vaporized by fierce heat. To swaddle is to bind with 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 11 

cloths, generally used of infants. At this day and 
time these cloths are stayed with metallic safety-pins. 
Do you suppose that the lesson was to teach Job 
that the thick darkness about the sea was made 
tighter by these diffused metals? Was our mode of 
fastening taken from this? Ours is an illustration. 
How simple the illustration! How the sea was 
formed seems a complex question. It is illustrated in 
terms that go to the comprehension of all the civilized 
world. Without question it indicates an infant sea; 
a young sea, a sea in the nursery, in sight, growing 
up for the duties of an active and an endless life. 

"xlncl brake up for it [sea] my decreed place." 
While the incidents mentioned above were trans- 
piring fearful convulsions were going on in the 
earth. The sea bottom was being broken up; so it 
was told to Job. Geology, speaking of this very 
period, says: "Huge crevices were opened, and tor- 
rents of liquid lava, ejected from the cracks and 
seams, were poured in fiery floods over the scarcely 
solid crust, which was constantly being rent asunder 
by eruptions from the molten mass beneath." See 
this period in any geology. Job's Lord says, "brake 
up;" now it is really done by a brake and that up- 
ward. Now this would be an impossibility were the 
earth any other form than that of a sphere. No 
other solution would possibly do. We hold to a 
word interpretation. Please whisper and tell me 
why Job's Lord did not miss this delicate, intricate 
feature. Busy elements are preparing for a coming 
sea, one in sight. How fearful the means employed, 
how wonderful the result as blast after blast is fired 
from the trains laid by decree beneath! 



12 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

"My decreed place." Irregularities in the earth's 
surface are the results of upheavals, and these up- 
heavals we are taught occurred in obedience to a de- 
cree; therefore must have compassed bounds as def- 
inite as the purposes which these two agents, moun- 
tains and seas, were to fill and do fill in the world's 
economy. Though mountains appear on our maps 
as so many confused masses and rugged eminences, 
as though hurled out in blind and mad confusion, 
yet the reverse is true; precision was the law gov- 
erning these great uplifts and these deep depres- 
sions. 

The place was decreed, its bounds surveyed and 
marked; its execution affords the highest example of 
civil engineering. The equator, the poles, the line 
separating the darkened from the lightened hemi- 
sphere, the sun's place itself, were not more definitely 
fixed than were these mountains and seas. No other 
place could fill the great mission of the mountains 
and seas. They fit a universal plan. This we are con- 
scious of, for they meet universal purposes. 

Our geographers speak thus: "In the mountains 
similarity is found everywhere. There are certain 
features of relief which belong to all the continents 
in general. Each continent is bordered by moun- 
tains. Each continent is traversed in the direction 
of its greater length by a grand mountain system. 
For the most part a subordinate system occurs in 
each of the continents. The central portions of each 
continent are comparatively depressed." This uni- 
formity points to a general plan and leads back to a 
decree. More, "these are important regulators of 
climate; they aid in the distribution of moisture and 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 13 

are regulators of drainage." They are the reposi- 
tories of mineral wealth. As much may be said of 
the sea. Nearly three-fourths of the earth's surface 
is covered by water. The northern hemisphere com- 
prises three-fourths of all the land, while the south- 
ern hemisphere comprises three-fifths of all the 
water surface. Does this show a purpose? Does 
this show a preconceived plan? Plans are but spec- 
ifications of a decree. " The offices of the sea are to 
receive the drainage of the land, to wear away and 
build up the land, to supply the atmosphere with 
moisture, to regulate climate, to be the highway of 
nations, that commerce, civilization, and Christianity 
may be wafted on its bosom to the ends of the earth." 
If scientists see a uniformity that can be no more 
nor less than the result of a plan, as seen in the seas 
and mountains of the globe, it requires no very 
great strength of mind, to see and know that these 
great features of the earth's surface fill prepared 
bounds, "my decreed place." 

Let us introduce another witness touching the ad- 
vent of the sea: its instantaneousness. Amos v. 8: 
"Seek him that . . . calleth for the waters of 
the sea, and poureth them out upon the face of the 
earth." Read the entire verse, and see that this re- 
fers to the formation of the sea. Its connection 
with other great works found in this verse makes it 
no less than what we here represent it. In another 
place we have given our opinion on the other con- 
structions. The waters of the sea were called and 
poured out. Not a part of the waters of the sea, but 
the waters that make the sea; not sprinkled out, not 
rained out, but poured out. If these waters came at 



14 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

a call and were poured out, was the geologist's proc- 
ess more instantaneous? 

Again, Job xii. 15: "He sendeth the waters out, 
and they overturn the earth." Turn it over. We 
offer this as a thought that perhaps at this time the 
center of gravity was changed and the inclination 
wrought. At this time bars and doors were set. 
We believe that these terms, " bars " and "doors," are 
in one sense forces — bars, the centripetal; doors, the 
centrifugal. These forces hold the sea in bounds. 
The one holds it bound to the center; the other draws 
it in part from the poles and holds it heaped at the 
equator. (For bars and doors as geographical fea- 
tures see "Frigid Zones.") The conflict between the 
fire and the water ends. A hot, muddy sea follows 
the moon round the earth — no obstruction, no im- 
pediments; all is water. 

Psalm civ. 5-9 : "Who laid the foundations of the 
earth, that it should not be removed forever. Thou 
coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: the 
waters stood above the mountains. At thy rebuke 
they fled: at the voice of thy thunder they hasted 
away. They go up by the mountains: they go down 
by the valleys unto the place which thou hast found- 
ed for them. Thou hast set a bound that they may 
not pass over: that they turn not again to cover the 
earth." 

" Who laid the foundations of the earth, that it 
should not be removed forever? " A beautiful ques- 
tion, that is answered. Were the foundations of the 
the earth laid? is not the question. The truth is, they 
were laid; now who did it? Him who is perfect in 
knowledge did this. Don't be uneasy, don't talk be- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 15 

fore the children about the world's coming to an end. 
These foundations cannot be removed forever. They 
are abiding. 

"Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a gar- 
ment." These foundations were hid beneath the 
deep, covered as with a garment, effectually hidden 
— "as with a garment." What simple illustrations 
the Bible offers! No other book ever written does 
this. O the grand simplicity of the Bible! 

"The waters stood above the mountains." This is 
the period spoken of by geologists, the time when a 
hot, muddy sea covered the earth — "stood above the 
mountains." The time comes when they must be 
gathered unto one place, their decreed bounds. 

"At thy rebuke they fled: at the voice of thy thun- 
der they haste away. They go up by the mountains, 
they go down by the valleys unto the place which 
thou hast founded for them." This is the account: 
Being rebuked, they flee, they haste away, they go up 
by the mountains, sweep down by the valleys to their 
prepared bounds. 

March of the Seas. 

Now we look upon the scene that David speaks of. 
Psalm xc. 2: " Before the mountains were brought 
forth." (Bead the entire verse, and see how truly 
David repeats in reverse order the geological periods 
mentioned in this chapter.) The bringing forth of 
these mountains was a period of sufficient note to at- 
tract the notice of the great singer. "Before the 
mountains were brought forth" is susceptible of two 
interpretations. Both, we think, are just and perti- 
nent to the thought before us. It refers to the time 



16 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

when the mountains were brought forth from the fiery 
chambers of the earth, the ocean being a factor; and 
also to the time when they were brought forth from 
this investing sea. We incline to the latter. 

Genesis i. 9: "And God said, Let the waters under 
the heaven be gathered together unto one place, and 
let the dry land appear: and it was so." 

All is now water, no visible appearance of land any- 
where. The deepest valleys slumber thousands and 
thousands of feet beneath the pressure of a mighty 
weight of waters. Far above the loftiest mountain 
peaks of the globe the waves, unobstructed, make their 
rounds with the moon, being led on by its attraction. 
This chase ends. Over the face of the waters, along 
all the parallels, up and down the meridians from 
pole to pole; from the deepest depths to the highest 
heights, even everywhere goes the command. 

"Let the waters under the whole heavens be gath- 
ered together unto one place." "Let" was an order 
to that which had heretofore restrained. Instantly 
the moon loses its attraction for the wave, the ordi- 
nance of the sun and stars fail. The centrifugal force 
yields, gravity hears and obeys with open hand. 
Every force that would impede the progress of the 
waters was enjoined. Mighty worlds, powerless to 
check, could 'only watch these evolutions as seas, un- 
restrained, went home. 

"At the voice of thy thunder they hasted away." 
The signal-gun proclaims the march, and tells the 
birth of a mountain. The thunder from the hundreds 
of guns that blazed from broadsides on Sebastopol 
compared to this were as a mere whisper. The move- 
ments of contending armies in action are said to form 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 17 

the climax of sublimity, from human effort. Under 
high discipline hundreds of thousands of feet are 
simultaneously raised, as simultaneously they fall — 
left, right, left, right — with a regularity which the 
tickings of no clock can excel. As we look on our 
minds seize the thought that all these feet are mem- 
bers of one and the same person, guided by the same 
intelligence. " March; " from east, west, north, south, 
a great army is gathered at Gettysburg. "March," 
and the armies of Europe center at Waterloo. Great- 
er still than all these were the hosts that followed 
Xerxes; these were greater than were ever assem- 
bled in ancient times; or, perhaps, at any known 
epoch of history. Xerxes ordered: "March." The 
tramp of forty-six nations, over five millions of 
soldiers bent their steps toward the little country of 
Greece. But " Let the waters be gathered unto one 
place;" instantly two hundred million square miles 
of water, having a depth of ten miles at least, form 
line above the terrible roar of forces, lifting moun- 
tains and excavating for a sea bottom. Amid these 
thunders the sea sets out on its march to its decreed 
bounds. "At the voice of thy thunder they hasted 
away." Myriads of waves, extending from pole to 
pole, move westward; while the center, impeded, loses 
distance, the wings sweep forward, the columns' break 
right and left, directing their lines of march to the 
poles; the right wing to the north and the left to 
the south. Here they circle like mighty troopers 
till at the north, a fearful sound, the columns break, 
then round, round, down, down they spin from far 
toward the south. The velocity slackens as their 
funnel shape becomes less concave, higher, higher it 
2 



18 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

rises in the center till one last leap and a shout pro- 
claims the Arctic Sea in its bounds. From here the 
surplus moves toward the south, and joins in the 
march there. Submarine convulsions, " the voice of 
his thunder," have broken the columns; now they cir- 
cle here, yonder, everywhere, as marked by vast 
areas of circling foam. The face of the deep is in- 
dented by valleys as the waves turn in or are pressed 
up as elevations rise. 

"Let the dry land appear." A miniature continent 
rises up near the great lakes. Let us take position 
upon this, and watch the waters withdraw, and the 
mountains rise up, monsters, children of the sea. 

Age on age goes by, little by little the water re- 
cedes, inch by inch the continent grows, slowly the 
land rises. " Dim outlines of mighty reefs, the Ap- 
palachians on our east are slowly coming forth, while 
the Rocky Mountains on our west are doing likewise. 
The pale sun is struggling to penetrate the dense at- 
mosphere of a yet heated earth. It sends a line of 
light along these mighty ramparts, outposts, advance- 
guards of an approaching continent." These are the 
bounds and barriers that the waters can never pass 
again. The mighty convulsions that threw them up 
have subsided. Now these peering mountains begin 
to furrow its surface like some playful fish at first, 
deeper and deeper as the waters move and the moun- 
tains come forth, till the force of the shock is broken 
against the base of tremendous mountains that defile 
along our borders. 

" Let the waters under the heavens be gathered to- 
gether unto one place, and let the dry land appear: 
and it was so." "They go up by the mountains; 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 19 

they go down by the valleys unto the place which 
thou hast founded for them." Fifty- three million 
miles of land have been unmasked, and one hundred 
and forty-four million miles of water have assem- 
bled unto one place. 

" Thou hast set a bound that they may not pass 
over." This bound was decreed before the waters 
were poured out upon the earth. It just fills these 
bounds, not one single drop too much, nor one too 
small. The excavation was precisely deep enough, 
just long enough, exactly broad enough, to hold a 
supply of water sufficient to last the earth, "which 

endureth forever." 

The Ocean. 

Geography teaches that the ocean is the great res- 
ervoir to which all the rivers flow, from, which all the 
rivers come; that it is filled with fish and plants, fur- 
rishing food for countless thousands; that in every 
one thousand ounces of this water are held twenty- 
seven ounces of common salt; that the coral and 
pearl are here. Says Maury: "The coral groves of 
the ocean floor are decorated like our gardens of the 
land; the flower-like polyps answering to our pinks 
and daisies, violets and lilies. Some are of the 
brightest and softest tints, pinks, pearl-color, and 
blue, green, purple, and yellow. They strew the bot- 
tom, which is of the whitest and purest sand, or hang 
like leaves and flowers, or cling like mosses and 
lichens to the branching coral, and lend rare enchant- 
ment to the scene. Fishes of many colors with ex- 
quisite grace of movement dart among the branches. 
They are as multitudinous as bees over the flower 
beds, and with their polished scales vie in brilliancy 



20 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

with the feathered tribes of the land." We learn 
also that the records of past ages, beyond the reach 
of pen, beyond the dumb language of monumental 
history, before Eden bloomed, were written, and bur- 
ried here, leaf by leaf, the story of the earth's 
growth. Psalm civ. 24, 25: "The earth is full of thy 
riches. So is this great and wide sea, wherein are 
things creeping innumerable, both small and great 
beasts." Again says the Psalmist, xxxiii. 7: "He 
gathereth the waters of the sea together as a heap: 
he layeth up the depth in storehouses." The con- 
formity of our Bible text to the statements above 
need no words to tell that to David these were direct 
inspirations. Too many good things have been said 
about the ocean that attest the truth of the text for 
us to say more. We will speak of it geologically, 
giving the part it has played in the earth's formation 
and in laying up these records of the events of the 
world's history; and then show by Bible texts that 
the study of these records is recommended, that the 
hand of God was in the matter. There have been so 
many things written on the subject of these records by 
geologists that we will only notice it so far as it is con- 
nected directly with the burden of our work. The more 
we know of geology, the more we know of him who 
layeth up the depth in storehouses. For this reason 
we have faith in the correctly read story of past ages 
as found in the rocks. Geology does accord with 
revelation; they are both direct gifts of inspiration. 
If there is seemingly a discord, it is man's fault. To 
say that it does not accord does geology an injustice 
and insults revelation. These are brothers, and come 
to us as such. They were designed to identify each 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 21 

other. It is said that geology makes the earth older 
than the Bible makes it. These things, they say, are 
taught by the rocks, the animal and vegetable re- 
mains found in them. The story is. this: "Amid all 
these revolutions, the changes in the earth have been 
attended with corresponding changes in animals; and 
their organic remains embedded in the rocks are the 
records of these transformations. The igneous and 
metamorphic rocks, destitute as they are of fossils, 
tell but little of the lapse of time in the construction 
of the earth; but the aqueous formation, filled with 
relics of life, unfold the successive chapters of the 
history before the creation of man." The rocks you 
see are leaflets of the earth's history. These dead 
bodies are the writings. 

Let us now see how written. " Not only is the in- 
animate dust of the earth carried into the vast store- 
house of the sea, but there lie millions of shells of 
every shape and hue. There into the soft oozy bot- 
tom settle the remains of countless fish, which have 
thronged the waters; thither float leaves and reeds 
and trees, torn up by the tempest, swept seaward 
from every shore; there sink skeletons of sea-fowls, 
exhausted land birds, borne to the sea by rapid rivers; 
drowned mariners lying in their quiet graves, uncon- 
scious of the fiercest storms that sweep above them. 
All the varied relics are slowly buried by the ever- 
settling sediment. The bottom of the ocean is a cem- 
etery in which lie the dead from the three kingdoms 
of nature. Layer by layer are gathered the remains 
of each passing year; there leaf by leaf the history 
of every age is being deposited and built into the 
very foundations of the earth. Could we gain access 



22 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

to this sea bottom, we should find revealed with each 
layer turned up by our spade a fresh page of the his- 
tory of the world. The ocean is now making up a 
continuation of this history. The geologist is read- 
ing the earlier volumes in the stratified rocks, the sea 
bottom of the olden times." These are the writings 
which the geologist interprets, and sometimes he 
makes them say what the Bible does not say — so they 
say. Job xxvi. 5: "Dead things are formed from 
under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof." Ge- 
ology begins here. This is the first observation, this 
the very writing of which we have spoken. Dead 
things are formed — take form under the waters, at 
the bottom, from the inhabitants thereof. The mil- 
lions of shells of every shape and hue leave their 
forms here. The remains of countless fishes take 
form with these. The skeletons of sea-fowls and ex- 
hausted land birds go down and take form with these 
also. Reeds and trees and the skeletons of animals 
swept in from every shore go down and take form 
with these too. One leaf on the sea bottom is writ- 
ten. The ever-settling sediment buries these, and 
then spreads the sheet for a new page. It is a lan- 
guage of dead things. Dead things take form, posi- 
tion, the very thing, the only thing that is intelligi- 
ble, in estimating the ages. We know that one for- 
mation is older than another if it is buried deeper, 
or lies beneath. The younger formation is always 
above the older. We use the very term, "forma- 
tion." Dead things are formed, make a formation, 
under the sea, aqueous. How truly does Job make 
the sea bottom a cemetery, where the dead take form! 
Job xii. 7-9: "But ask now the beasts, and they 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 23 

shall teach thee; and the fowls of the air, and they 
shall tell thee; or speak to the earth, and it shall 
teach thee; and the fishes of the sea shall declare 
nnto thee. Who knoweth not in all these that the 
hand of the Lord hath wrought this?" The ant is 
accepted as the type of industry. " Go to the ant, 
thou sluggard." By example this little insect was 
to teach lessons of industry. In this case a special 
lesson was to be learned, and that lesson was defined. 
Now the beasts are to become teacher. 

"Ask the beasts, and they shall teach thee." The 
lesson to be taught, we think, is that the hand of the 
Lord wrought this. The lesson to be learned is an 
important, a valuable, lesson. What will they teach ? 
This great lesson above. They teach their own his- 
tory as read in the rocks, the solid foundations of 
the earth. In these we see the hand that did this. 
They can not teach orally, for they can not talk. They 
can not teach by signs, for these are found only along 
the line of their particular needs. They can only 
teach zoology and geology and that from their em- 
bedded forms in the rocks. We are directed to no 
particular beast — but beasts. How else can this 
multifarious assembly teach? To make the state- 
ment that they do teach and that through their dead 
forms only makes this meaning certain. They teach 
geology. 

"The fowls of the air shall tell thee." What can 
their story be? The silent dead forms of the fowls 
of the air tell their story from their creation down 
through all the ages. Their dead forms speak 
louder and more intelligibly than their living bills. 
We learn geology from these. - 



24 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

"Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee." Will 
it not teach just as the beasts and fowls do? The 
dead, silent earth is teacher. "Speak to it," ques- 
tion it, investigate it, dig down into it. What does 
the earth teach? Were you going to buy a book 
that contained the lessons taught by the earth as 
teacher, what book would you call for? But you did 
not tell me for what work you w T ould call. Geology. 
That is right, my man. That is what it teaches. 
Now do you suppose that the Bible would recom- 
mend you to go to school to the earth to learn 
geology, the only thing it can teach if the written 
and "formed" works did not agree? He says that 
the Bible is his word. He says that he layeth up 
the depths in storehouses. He claims to be the 
Author of both the Bible and the earth. Then he 
recommends geology. Go at the work determined to 
accept nothing as true if it is not in full and har- 
monious accord with the written Word. This you 
can understand, while you may fail to interpret dead 
forms. Would you recommend a work with which 
you are not conversant? Would you recommend a 
work that was not correct in its teachings? Would 
you recommend an incompetent, unworthy teacher? 
If you would not, I can not entertain for one second 
that he who made the record of the earth's history, 
and whose ways are as far from our ways as the east 
is from the west, would do so either. Now the east 
is about six hundred millions of miles from the 
west; if his ways, words, and works are that far above 
mine, or even yours, believe him. 

"The fishes of the sea shall declare." The beasts 
shall teach, the fowls shall tell, the earth shall teach, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 25 

the "fishes shall declare." We need not ask these a 
word; they tell at an immoderate tone. Declarations 
come more often by sight than from hearing. Their 
declarations are heard loudest as we see in that 
ocean cemetery where lie the three kingdoms of 
nature. Job's comment is wonderful: "Who know- 
eth not in all these that the hand of the Lord hath 
wrought this?" Some say it did; some say it did 
not. Psalm lxxxii. 5: "They know not, neither will 
they understand; they walk on in darkness: all the 
foundations of the earth are out of course." Such is 
the testimony of those that do not know and will not 
understand. The dead bodies of these that have grown 
into hardness tell us of their former habits, the kind 
of food upon which they subsisted. From others, by 
the shape of the eye we determine something con- 
cerning the conditions of the air. A single tooth be- 
trays its master's diet. One bone, its size. Each 
form lies buried on the same plain with those that 
flourished alongside of it. Each form was a letter 
in the leaf, the whole leaf a combination of letters 
making a page in the history of the earth's growth. 

Surface of the land under the sea. Deep-sea 
dredgings show the bottom of the ocean, like the 
land, to be made up of elevations and depressions, 
of mountains, hills, and valleys. Psalm civ. 6-8: 
"Thou coveredst it with the deep as with a garment: 
the waters stood above the mountains. At thy re- 
buke they fled; at the voice of thy thunder they 
hasted away. They go up by the mountains; they 
go down by the valleys unto the place which thou 
hast founded for them." Jonah ii. 6: "I went down 
to the bottoms of the mountains." 



26 THE rLUMB-LINE. 

AY AYES. 

As long as tlie ocean aud winds have existed 
so long have the waves swept over the sea. The 
ocean by the friction of the winds, modified by 
other circumstances, is often torn to great depths 
and waves heaped one upon another till their heights 
are estimated by the phrase "mountains high," or 
"to the clouds." Psalm cvii. 26: "They mount up 
to the heaven, they go down again to the depths." 

Waterspouts. 

Of this phenomenon of the sea geographers 
say: "The whirlwind is frequently accompanied 
by a funnel-shaped cloud, having its point toward 
the earth. When it passes over a body of water this 
point frequently extends lower and lower, while 
the water beneath is violently whirled up in a col- 
umn of spray. As the cloud descends it unites with 
this column, and a waterspout is formed." Here are 
the two oceans we have talked so much about; one 
of air descends in a cloud, while the other of water 
rises higher and higher tfl they meet in mid-air, and 
form a waterspout. Psalm xlii. 7: "Deep calleth 
unto deep at the noise of thy waterspouts." Here 
we have the same terms, the same process, and the 
same result. 

Ocean Tides and Their Causes. 

We are taught that the unequal attraction of the 
sun and moon upon different parts of the earth pro- 
duce the tides. As the amount of water in the ocean 
is always the same, the effect of the moon's attrac- 
tion is simply to change its spherical form to that of 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 27 

an ellipsoid, whose longer axis is directed toward the 
moon. The sea is thus raised under the moon to the 
extent of 55 deg. around the point nearest the moon, 
while it is depressed about the pole to the distance 
of 35 deg., leaving it heaped directly opposite the 
moon also. Were it not for the interference of the 
land, the waves would chase each other round the 
globe, led on by the attraction of the moon. Jere- 
miah xxxi. 35: "Thus saith the Lord, which giveth 
the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of 
the moon and of the stars for a light by night, 
which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar." 
Jeremiah attributes the cause of tides directly to 
these bodies. The sun and the moon produce tides 
independently of each other; but, as their rela- 
tive positions are constantly changing during every 
month, their separate actions are alternately united 
and opposite to each other. Twice a month, at new 
and full moon, the sun and moon act together, and 
the tides are unusually high, since the solar and lu- 
nar tides are then heaped one upon another. As an 
assurance of the acceptance of the seed of Jacob 
and David, he pledges it, and makes it as permanent 
and as sure as are these ordinances. Jeremiah xxxiii. 
25, 26: " Thus saith the Lord; If my covenant be not 
with day and night, and if I have not appointed the 
ordinances of heaven and earth; then will I cast 
away the seed of Jacob, and David my servant." He 
declares that he is the Author of all the laws of heav- 
en and earth, that he appointed these, that they are 
immutable, permanent as his own inviolable prom- 
ises to his own chosen seed. 

Here the grand doctrine of attraction is taught 



28 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

twenty-five hundred years before Newton was born. 
Mark the indestructibility of these ordinances. 

Ocean Cueeents. 

We have spoken of the ocean as a great store- 
house. Now let us look at the continents as differ- 
ent apartments of one great establishment, heated 
by invective currents or cooled by melting snow and 
ice, from this great storehouse of good things, which 
is sending out its streams of heat and cold, mollify- 
ing the rigors of frigid climes, or cooling others with 
their burdens of ice. It is strange to see the rivers 
of hot w ater seemingly with undeviating instinct move 
straight for the coldest seas; while cold, icy rivers 
take the straightest route for these hottest seas. 
Every ocean has its currents. Let us follow two of 
these ocean currents and notice their effect on con- 
tiguous lands. The Gulf Stream begins down in the 
Caribbean Sea, or we will begin with it there. It 
passes along our eastern coast, a mighty river of 
warm water, flowing through the Atlantic. From 
Cape Hatteras to the Grand Banks of Newfoundland 
the stream is warmer than the ocean by 20 deg. or 30 
deg. Fahrenheit. After flowing three thousand miles 
to the north this stream still preserves even in winter 
a summer heat, and, inundating with its warm va- 
pors the cold surface of the sea for thousands cf 
miles, forms a constant reservoir of heat, which, 
borne by the prevailing southwesterly winds to Eu- 
rope, softens the rigors of its climate. It has been 
estimated that the amount of heat arising from the 
Gulf Stream on a winter day is sufficient to raise the 
atmosphere over the British Isles from the freezing- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 29 

point to a summer temperature. Hammerfest, tlie 
most northern seaport in the world, is never closed 
by ice; this warm current prevents it from freezing. 
On goes nature's process of heating by steam, afford- 
ing perpetual pasture to shores far north of us, 
shores that would otherwise be locked by eternal 
snows and ice. This agent makes these countries 
rich, powerful, and happy. It also forms a great 
feeding way by the distribution of food picked up 
and dropped along the route. The inhabitants of 
the sea are induced hither in searoh of food, the 
weaker becoming a prey to the stronger of their kind. 
Who knows but that this is a part of a great plan? 
So potent is this that the mind of the prophet seized 
upon it to illustrate Pharaoh's growth in wealth and 
power. Ezekiel xxxi. 3, 4 : "Behold, the Assyrian 
was a cedar in Lebanon with fair branches, and with 
a shadowing shroud, and of a high stature; and his 
top was among the thick boughs. The waters made 
him great, the deep set him up on high with her riv- 
ers round about his plants, and sent out her little 
rivers unto all the trees of the field." Ezekiel xxxii. 
2: "Thou art as a whale in the seas: and thou 
earnest forth with thy rivers." 

Let us follow a cold current, one that has its ori- 
gin high up in frozen seas. We will begin about 
43° north latitude. Here the cold current divides 
into two branches. One of these, flowing along the 
coast of the United States as far as Florida by the 
side of the Gulf Stream, forms the counter-current 
of the latter; while the other, running southward 
beneath the Gulf Stream as a submarine current 
as far as Florida, enters the Caribbean Sea. The 



30 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

waters of this cold current below the surface are 
found to be as cold as those on 2 the shores of Spitz- 
bergen at corresponding depths. Like our two air 
currents that set the one from the equator and the 
other from the pole, for a great distance the one 
moves directly under the other in a course directly 
opposite. This was told to Job thousands of years 
before man had marked the course of the winds or 
had looked upon the face of the great seas. Job 
xxxviii. 25 : " Who hath divided a watercourse for the 
overflowing of waters?" Who can make one wind 
blow due south and another due north, and directly 
under it ; or who can make one river flow north 
and another south, and directly under it? That 
these things are now known to be so is to my mind 
the mystery. Who could know these truths? What 
one could say such things before the days of Colum- 
bus? 

These currents are great thoroughfares — ways lead- 
ing and even driving on man's boat, forwarding 
commerce. " By the aid of ocean currents mariners 
are enabled to take advantage of favorable currents, 
and to avoid those that are adverse, thus shortening 
their voyage and facilitating the commerce of the 
world. In the Indian Ocean a ship sailing from Java 
homeward bound to Europe is borne westward by 
equatorial currents at the rate of ten to twenty miles 
a day. After passing Madagascar it is carried south- 
westerly at the rate, in some places, of one hundred 
and twenty miles per day. The influence of the Gulf 
Stream upon commerce and navigation is very re- 
markable." When we know this, and when we look 
upon the great ocean, marked by her many paths, we 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 31 

think of the coal that touched the lip of the prophet 
Isaiah (Isa. xliii. 16), "Thus saith the Lord, which 
maketh a way in the sea, and a path in the mighty 
waters," hundreds of years before a painted chart 
of the seas was ever made by man, and thousands of 
years before he had followed these paths in the 
mighty waters. Scientists say that the directions of 
these paths are influenced by the rotation of the 
earth on its axis. Revelation in the book of Job 
mentions it in connection with the same subject. 
The question that presents itself is: Where are the 
books inspired men studied so long before the story 
of these things is told by the world? Proverbs xxv. 
2: "It is the glory of God to conceal a thing: but the 
honor of kings is to search out a matter."" By kings 
is not meant he who sits upon a throne or is born 
heir to a kingdom. These are not of necessity the 
only real kings or princes of earth. Ecclesiastes: "I 
have seen servants upon horses, and princes walking 
as servants upon the earth." Thus we close this 
chapter with a breathing of social philosophy, com- 
pared to a like breathing from revelation. 



CHAPTEE II. 

Let There Be Light — Light a Preparation — The Sun Not a Sep- 
arate Formation as tiie Earth and Other Planets, but a Prep- 
aration — The Sun and Its Fruits — The Moon and Stars — The 
Great Flight of Arcturus. 

" Let there be light" It is not denominated sun- 
light. The sun is reserved till the fourth day. Ac- 
cording to the detachment theory there could have 
been no light to the earth till it (the earth) was de- 
tached from this nebular mass, and light from the 
residue to it did spring up at the very moment of its 
detachment. Also, according to the same theory, the 
sun never appeared in his place till after the detach- 
ment of Venus, Mercury, and Yulcan, if there be a 
Vulcan. Let us suppose that on the second day He 
prepared the firmament and separated the waters and 
Venus was detached. The detachment of Venus, to- 
gether with the sun's compression, could have so 
charged atmospheric temperature as to effect, in a 
measure, that universal precipitation that brought 
down the waters of the globe. On the third day the 
waters were collected in one place; grass and herbs 
and fruit-bearing trees put forth. This was signal- 
ized by the birth of Mercury. The sun, by contrac- 
tion, is withdrawing from the earth, each time af- 
fording a milder temperature, suited to higher organ- 
isms. On the fourth day Vulcan was thrown off. 
This act, at one and the same time, made the two 
great lights — the one to rule the day, and the other 
to rule the night. Now the sun is in his place. The 
(32) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 33 

moon receives her light from the sun, yet was not 
placed as a light till the sun was placed; that means 
put in place, for as lights " God set them in the fir- 
mament of heaven to give light upon the earth " at 
the same time. Is it not strange that Moses should 
show this dependence? 

According to Laplace and Moses the material was 
created in bulk, and this bulk was divided and formed 
into worlds. The residue was left as the snn. Spec- 
trum analysis shows kinship — that they are flesh of 
one flesh and bone of one bone. "Two great lights." 
We see in the work-days of God this comment: " The 
moon is called a great light from its being apparently 
equal, or nearly equal, in size to the snn; or, perhaps, 
from the fact that it seems much larger than the 
stars. But here, again, things are described as they 
would appear to a spectator, and not as they were in 
reality; for the moon is among the smallest of the 
heavenly bodies, and, as compared with the sun or 
fixed stars, is but as a grain ' of mustard-seed to a 
twenty-four inch globe." We have given this quota- 
tion to illustrate our idea of a word interpretation. 
Mr. Morris's apology for these revealed truths caused 
him to speak of these lights as they appeared to 
him. Had he dealt with them as they really are, and 
just what the text denominates them, and then, ad- 
vised his spectators to change their standpoints, that 
they might in reality see them as they are, would 
have sounded more like reason. The bulk of these 
two bodies enters no more into the thought than do 
the individual elements of which they are composed. 
They are great lights, not great bulks. Light has its 
laws, which are as fixed, as definite, as operative, as 
3 



34 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

those that govern earthly matter, even the constella- 
tions themselves. Is the sun not a great light? It 
goes out to light a dependent son nearly three bil- 
lions of miles away. Think of a circle whose diam- 
eter is nearly six billion miles. Over all this great 
area is light enough going out from the sun to make 
every spot feel its influence, and look toward our sun 
as the source. It is said that it would take three 
hundred thousand full moons to make night as bright 
as day. Surely the sun is a great light, the greatest 
that our eyes can behold. Were the space over our 
heads and around us one unbroken Milky Way, yet 
this would not afford the light that one moon does, 
and that in its second quarter. We are told that 
along this Milky Way trillions of mighty suns blend 
their feeble rays. Then the moon is a great light — 
the next greatest that greets us from space. 

If, as Mr. Morris suggests, we should speculate on 
these lights as they appear to every spectator, then 
the sun and moon would rise and set each by its own 
motion. The Psalmist sustains our idea. Psalm 
Ixxiv. 16: "The day is thine, the night also is thine: 
thou hast prepared the light and the sun." They 
are distinct preparations. Light is one thing, and 
the sun quite another. 

"Thou hast prepared the light." This preparation 
must have taken place in the laboratories of old, in 
the beginning of his way, before his works of old, be- 
fore it gleamed from any object. The first order 
that fell on chaos was not to create, not to |3repare, 
but " Let there be light." Prepare — to fit for a par- 
ticular use or service. It is one of the most intricate 
preparations found in nature. It is a mixture of 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 35 

three rays. " These work everywhere the miracle of 
life and motion." In the white ray is hid all the 
colors of the rainbow. Light comes to us from the 
sun as a preparation for life, and finds its nses wher- 
ever a service is needed. It is a sure tonic, healthful 
and invigorating. 

"Thou hast prepared the sun." The preparation 
of the sun was the preparation of a great globe. It 
was created with the heaven and the earth in the 
beginning; so after that it was only prepared, fitted 
for its particular use. The word indicates its devel- 
opment from materials already at hand. There is no 
theory more plausible than the detachment theory, 
There is not an expression, that we now remember, in 
the Old Testament stating that he ever made a sun, 
only in connection with all the matter that composes 
our system, and that is found in the first sentence in 
our Bible. " In the beginning God created the heav- 
en and the earth." The first thing God created the 
solar system. From this he prepared the sun, shaped, 
compressed, removed, the sun to fit it for a sun's work 
as we see it. We have such expressions as : " To him 
that made the sun to rule the day;" "he maketh his 
sun to rise on the evil," etc. He always claims the 
authorship of the purpose of the sun, but never does 
he tell us that he made the sun. " He prepared the 
sun" is the only Bible statement touching the for- 
mation of the sun, so far as we remember. 

The Sun and Its Feuits. 

In the blessings given to Joseph, among the won- 
derful things given to him, is that most curiously 
wonderful gift, the fruits of the sun. Deuteronomy 



36 THE PLUME-LINE. 

xxxiii. 14: "And for the precious fruits brought forth 
by the sun." This can not mean literal fruit drop- 
ping from the sun. It can not mean the growth and 
production of fruit in any other sense than a philo- 
sophical one. It is stripped of every visible, tangi- 
ble fruit-producing branch. "Fruits," as used in the 
text, are " whatever is produced for the nourishment 
of animals and man, or for clothing or profit. It 
includes not only corn of all kinds, but grass, cotton, 
flax, grapes, and the fruits of orchards, and spices and 
sweet things gathered from the many lands and is- 
lands of all the world; " and all transformations pro- 
duced by this agent, the sun. 

" Fruits of the sun." This blessing to Joseph was 
penned more than five thousand years ago. If all the 
knowledge concerning the sun at that age were com- 
piled, it would not extend beyond the truth that the 
sun was the source of light and heat. What are the 
fruits of the sun? As we are comparing revelations 
to science we cannot do better than to quote from 
these works. 

Chemistry of the Sunbeam. — " In classical fable we 
are told that Prometheus stole a spark of celestial 
fire and warmed into life the earthly body he had 
formed. The mythologic dream was parallel with the 
truth of nature; the true Promethean spark is the 
sunbeam, which, by its wonderful alchemy, transforms 
dead matter into organized and living forms." 

Extent of Solar Influence. — " Not only life, but all 
the grand phenomena of force with which we are fa- 
miliar upon this planet, have their origin in the sun. 
His radiations govern the movements of terrestrial 
atoms, and in these the movements of masses take 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 37 

their rise. Should that body cease to give out ema- 
nations, the earth would speedily lose its heat; life 
would disappear, vapors condense, and liquids con- 
geal. There would still be tidal influence, due to 
the attraction of the dark masses of the sun and moon; 
but, as the ocean would be solid, there could be 
only a slight movement in the atmosphere. There 
might also be volcanic force, due to the earth's cen- 
tral heat, although this too has been held as sub- 
ject to astronomic agency." 

Effects of Solar Herd Alone. — "Were the sun to 
radiate heat alone, the earth would still remain dark, 
but the oceans would melt, and tides begin to lash 
the coasts. The atmosphere would be rarefied un- 
equally as now; storms would arise, and there would 
be the motive power of wind. Water wo aid be con- 
verted into vapor and condensed into invisible clouds 
and rain. Streams would channel their way to the 
sea, and, falling in cataracts, would give rise to water- 
power. The descending floods, bringing down the 
sediment, would generally lower the continents and 
fill up the oceans, while the tide would gnaw away 
the shores. The distribution of land and water 
would be changed, and there would be all the ex- 
tensive effects of aqueous geologic agency. Further- 
more, the electrical conditions of matter would be 
disturbed; tropical tornadoes and the milder storms 
of the temperate latitudes would be accompanied 
with thunder and lightning; the unequal heating 
of the earth in its daily rotation would give rise to 
thermoelectric currents, and these would produce 
magnetism. All these results would flow from so- 
lar radiations quickening the motions of earthly 



38 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

atoms, so that ice would change to water, and water 
to vapor." 

Effect of Increased Solar Action. — "If we again 
suppose the energy of solar radiation so exalted that 
light emitted with heat, the higher phenomena of or- 
ganization becomes possible with the introduction of 
plant germs, the vegetable world wo aid be called into 
being by the vitalizing chemistry of the sun. The 
animal world, dependent upon the vegetable, con- 
suming its matter and its force, could then appear 
with all its multitudinous forms of power. The 
burning of wood and coal would also give steam 
power. Thus, in addition to all the forms of mechan- 
ical movement urjon earth, its very energies and im- 
pulses of life originate in the sun." 

The Organic Kingdom a Magazine of Force. — " The 
vegetable world, born of the atmosphere, consists of 
condensed gasses. The animal world, derived from 
the vegetable, is also but solidified air. So the food 
that we consume, the clothes that we wear, the houses 
in which we live, the fuel that warms us by the fire- 
side, that transports us to distant places with light- 
ning speed, and labors for us in a thousand ways, are 
all nothing but condensed air. The sunbeam is the 
agent of condensation, and thus the organic world pre- 
sents itself as a vast magazine of solar force." Precious 
fruits of the sun. But that is not all. The bless- 
ing to Joseph continues in the next verse, and in the 
same sentence. Deuteronomy xxxiii. 15, 16: "And 
for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and 
for the precious things of the lasting hills, and for 
the precious things of the earth and the fulness 
thereof." What are the chief things of the ancient 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 39 

mountains? What are the precious things of the 
lasting hills? These are without question gold, sil- 
ver, lead, copper, iron, coal, and stone. 

Continuing our quotations: "So the coal deposits 
■ — carbonized remains of vegetation which, flourish- 
ing long before man appeared upon the globe, were 
condensed from an atmosphere richer in carbonic 
acid, and perhaps by a more brilliant sun; and yet 
this coal, having slumbered in its ancient bed 
through uncounted eras of time, now comes forth to 
surrender its ethereal agents, light and heat, and re- 
turn as carbonic acid to the air, from whence it came." 

Tlie Sunbeam the Antagonist of Oxygen. — "When 
treating of oxygen it was stated that this element 
enshrouds the globe, and tends to unite with and 
bring all things to rest, so that if the earth were left 
to the action of its own forces life would quickly 
disappear, and leave the world a desert. But the 
earth's vegetation is the beautiful instrumentality by 
which this action is arrested. The leaves extract 
poisonous carbonic acid from the air, deprive it of 
the elements it has seized, and return it again to the 
atmosphere, while the forces w T hich impel these 
changes are the beams of the sun. These are the 
great antagonists of oxygen. Under its influence 
organized matter is rent into its elements and carried 
down to the mineral world; under the influence of 
the solar rays it is again raised to the organized con- 
dition. If oxygen dilapidates, they renovate; if that 
decomposes and breaks down, they construct and 
build up: if that is seen in the falling leaf of au- 
tumn, they are proclaimed in the exuberant foliage 
and blossoms of spring. If oxygen is the main- 



40 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

spring of destruction, wasting, burning, consuming 
all things, the solar rays constitute the mighty force 
of counteraction. They reunite the dissevered ele- 
ments, and substitute development for decay, calling 
forth a glory from desolation, and life and beauty 
from the very bosom of death." O, "the precious 
fruits brought forth by the sun !" "And for the pre- 
cious things of the earth and fulness thereof." 
These are enumerated among the precious fruits. 

Continuing our quotation: 

It Is the Motive Power of the World. — " Thus is 
the earth warmed, illumined, magnetized, and vivi- 
fied by the sun. In the fall of the avalanche, the 
roar of the cataract, and the flow of rivers; in the 
crash of thunder, the glare of lightning, and the 
sweep of tornadoes, in the blaze of conflagration and 
the shock of battle; in the beauty of flower, of the 
rainbow, and the ever-shifting clouds; in the days 
and seasons, the silent growth cf the plants, and the 
elastic spring of animals; in the sail of impelled or 
steam-driven ship, and the flying train ; in the heavy 
respiration of the laboring steam-engine, and the 
rapid click of the telegraph — in all the myriad mani- 
festations of earthly power, we behold the transmuted 
strength of the all-energizing sun." " The precious 
fruits brought forth by the sun." These were bless- 
ings to Joseph. But, says the same writer : 

The Universe Culminates in Life. — " If astronomy 
has revealed to us a universe of unspeakable gran- 
deur, chemistry has linked the mighty mechanism to 
the course of terrestrial life. She teaches not only 
that the leaves and flowers distilled from the crystal 
medium in which they dwell, but they are tissues 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 41 

woven in the loom of the universe — their warp the 
subtlest ethers of earth, their woof the swift radiations 
of the stars; not only that the leaf is the crucible of 
vitality, whose mj'sterious alchemy is interposed be- 
tween ourselves and death, but that it is the wondrous 
mechanism appointed to receive and gather the life 
forces which God is perpetually pouring through 
this universe." "And God saw the light, that it was 

good." 

The Moon. 

It is an accepted opinion that the moon has much 
to do with the planting and growth of vegetation; 
that it shapes to a very great extent our seasons. 
Psalm civ. 19: "He appointed the moon for sea- 
sons." Genesis i. 14: "Let there be lights in the 
firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the 
night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and 
for days, and years." Science teaches that the moon 
has no light in itself; it only reflects the light of the 
sun. The eclipse of the moon is a proof of this fact. 
The earth, passing between the sun and the moon, 
cuts off the light from that body, and it is dark. 
We say the moon is in eclipse. Job xxv. 5 : " Behold 
even to the moon, and it shineth not." The moon is 
not a luminous body, but opaque. It does not emit 
light; it only reflects it. Hence, says Job: "The moon 
shineth not." Job xxxi. 26: "If I beheld the sun 
when it shined, or the moon walking in brightness." 
How nicely and how philosophically is this distinc- 
tion made! The sun is made luminous, while the 
moon only walks in his brightness. This accounts 
for the fact that the two great lights showed forth 
at one and the same time. Thales taught this doc- 



42 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

trine seven hundred years before Christ. Job saw 
and understood it more than a thousand years before 
Thales was born. Yet Thales was the boast of 
Greece. The world giv^es him the title of one of the 
seven wise men of Greece. He established the first 
school of astronomy in Greece. Still he only springs 
a question old to the Bible. With these side remarks 
let us return and show a striking beauty, one in con- 
formity to the theory of to-day: "Moon walking in 
brightness." Her movements are all in the light. 
Let us see if we can justify Job's expression, "walk- 
ing in brightness." Astronomy teaches that the real 
path of the moon is the result of its own proper mo- 
tion and the onward motion of the earth. The two 
combined produce a wave-like curve that crosses the 
earth's path twice each month. Then the moon 
moves along her path by alternate oblique move- 
ments, which is philosophically nothing more nor less 
than walking. One step places her at her greatest 
distance to the right of the earth's track as it moves 
onward through space; the next brings her back to 
its greatest distance to the left of the earth, at the 
same time keeping pace with the earth in its forward 
movement. Thus in about twenty-seven days the 
moon has completed its sidereal journey around the 
earth. In about twenty-five of these steps the moon 
reaches the starting, or the same position with re- 
spect to the sun and earth, and the earth has com- 
pleted its yearly journey. 

Job tells us by no uncertain or vague illustra- 
tions that the earth and sun each have both a for- 
ward and a rotary motion; but he says that the 
moon has a forward movement, and denominates that 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 43 

motion by walking in brightness. This implies the 
office of the moon, that of a reflector. When we 
walk we move forward, with our face toward the 
thing approached, without turning; this is true of 
the moon. The side that faced the earth when the 
two lights were first placed is the same side that it 
has ever presented and now presents — none but 
moons do that. The moon with its face set in one 
direction has moved, is still moving, forward with eye 
on the sun and its face on the earth. The tabernacle 
moved through the wilderness with its eye on the 
Son and its face on Israel's hosts. We ask you to 
examine some work where this motion is pictured, 
that you may look upon a picture penciled by in- 
spiration four thousand years ago. Take a common 
auger make the barrel into a hoop, have only one 
wing. Let the bit represent the positions of the 
earth, the wing the moon's orbit; now if we could 
move the earth (the bit) round the barrel and the 
moon at the same time should move along the wing, 
keeping pace with the earth or bit as it moves with 
the sun; as it slides off in the full blaze of the sun 
you can almost hear the left, right, left, right as it 
alternately moves this way or that as we look on. 
The earth returns to its starting-point. Its journey is 
measured by twenty-five moon steps. There is one 
question that the scientific world is not agreed upon: 
the comparative brilliancy of the moon and sun, or 
the number of full mooos necessary to make night 
as bright as day. One says it would take six hun- 
dred thousand full moons to make night as light as 
day; again, that the brilliancy of the moon is only 
one three hundred thousandth that of the sun; that 



44 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

if the whole sky was filled with full moons they 
would scarcely make daylight. We have learned 
two things: that there is an existing relation between 
these two lights, and that astronomers or philoso- 
phers are not agreed. Revelation makes a compari- 
son (Isa. xxx. 26): "Moreover the light of the moon 
shall be as the light of the sun, and the light of the 
sun shall be sevenfold, as the light of seven days." 
It is evident that the light of the moon is increased 
by an increase of sunlight. This is a figure, the same 
figure as manifested by the tabernacle and Jesus 
Christ. It is drawn from the two great lights. It 
manifests God's nearer approach to the Church. 
When the Church shall shine as bright as is the 
light of Christ, our capacities having grown by near- 
ing him, his light will have become sevenfold 
brighter when we draw seven times nearer. Let us 
see if we can not illustrate this by the light that some 
of our planets receive. The amount of light any 
planet receives depends upon its distance from the 
sun. The same is true with reference to the Church. 
The nearest definitely known planet to the sun is 
Mercury. Mercury receives sevenfold this light that 
we receive, and the sun appears seven times as large 
as it appears to us. 

Then our moon, with a diameter eight hundred 
miles shorter than that of Mercury, though brought 
two hundred and forty thousand miles nearer the 
sun, would then afford less light than Mercury, less 
than seven times the light that we receive, but some- 
where near that amount. Is it not wonderful that 
the prophet should talk of these nice comparisons 
that require the most intricate of all calculations? 



the plumb-line. 45 

The Stars. 
We peep from every observatory, from every 
standpoint on the earth, and we see the stars. Every 
nation has them. The twinkling stars, like so many 
gems, fill the bow that spans every nation. These 
shower their declarations of glory upon every peo- 
ple. Deuteronomy iv. 19: "The sun, and the moon, 
and the stars, . . . which the Lord thy God hath 
divided unto all nations under the whole heaven." 
Some are so far removed that light, traveling at 
the rate of nearly two hundred thousand miles per 
second, would require over a hundred years to reach 
the earth; were we placed on these far-off stars, 
others would twinkle as far beyond; and should we 
move on from star to star, still the heavens would 
spread out beyond us as we see them here. Solomon 
says there are three things insearchable, among 
them the heavens for height. Jeremiah xxxi. 37: 
"Thus saith the Lord; if heaven above can be meas- 
ured, ... I will cast off all the seed of Israel." 
How impossible that feat! Nor can we even num- 
ber them. Jeremiah xxxii. 22: "The host of heaven 
cannot be numbered, neither the sand of the sea 
measured." O the stars! the stars! the stars! 

Arcturus, 

Job xxxviii. 32: "Canst thou guide Arcturus with 
his sons?" This is the last of four questions pro- 
pounded to Job concerning star clusters. "Canst 
thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose 
the bands of Orion? Canst thou bring forth Maz- 
zaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus 
with his sons?" It is apparent that either of these 



46 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

performances is too much for Job. To bind the 
sweet influences of Pleiades, or seven stars, would re- 
quire a power as great as that exerted by the most 
conspicuous group in the heavens. To loose the 
bands of Orion would require a power equal to that 
that supports one of the most conspicuous constella- 
tions in the heavens. To bring forth Mazzaroth in his 
season requires the ability to bring our earth to the 
constellations, to each in due time. The perform- 
ance of either of these feats would require very great 
strength. 

" Canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons ? " This, 
we think, is directed to Job's ability to lead or direct 
in a way, to conduct in a course or path. The direct 
inference is that Arcturus is in motion. Yes, Arctu- 
rus is in motion. It is a magnificent star of the first 
magnitude. We said that it was in motion, yet 
through all our lifetime we shall never be able to 
detect any change in its position. In three hundred 
years of constant travel over the starry vault the 
whole space passed would not more than equal the 
moon's apparent diameter. To me the moon's ap- 
parent diameter does not exceed in size a common 
water bucket; to others its apparent diameter is as 
large as a wash-tub. This is the space that Arcturus 
seems to pass over in three hundred years. There 
were no facilities in the days of Job for knowing 
such things, and none for thousands of years after- 
ward. The world estimated things and based its 
philosophy on appearance. Until recently Arcturus, 
together with all the stars that had no perceptible 
motion, were called fixed stars. Now, if Arcturus 
was at that day considered a fixed star, or had been 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 47 

in reality such, then the question propounded to Job 
was a foolish one; but when we are told that Arctu- 
rus with his sons is flying through space many hun- 
dred times faster than the fastest cannon-ball ever 
travels, we comprehend the challenge to Job, and feel 
assured that the flight of this star was the thought 
set forth; if not to Job, it is to me and you. Isaiah 
xlviii. 4r-6: "Because I knew that thou art obstinate, 
and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass; 
I have even from the beginning declared it to thee; 
before it came to pass I shewed it thee; lest thou 
shouldest say, Mine idol [our science] hath done 
them; and my graven image, and my molten image, 
hath commanded them. ... I have shewed thee new 
things from this time, even hidden things, and thou 
didst not know them." " Canst thou guide Arcturus 
with his sons?" "With his sons." If it be true that 
our system was at one time one boundless mass; that 
all the planets, satellites, etc., were detached from 
this mass, leaving the residue for our sun, we con- 
clude that this same process evolved other systems. 
As our earth and all the attendants of our system are 
sons of the sun, so are the attendants of other suns. 
Each, as a spark sent blazing from the central mass, 
is a son of that mass. Job v. 7: " Yet man is born unto 
trouble, as the sparks fly upward." We introduced 
this for the marginal reading of the clause. " The 
sparks fly upward." The Hebrew rendering is: "The 
sons of the burning coal lift up to fly." The particles 
thrown off by heat are here made the sons of the body 
from which they were thrown. "Lift up to fly." 
These ejected bodies of our system were truly lifted 
up to fly — sent on wings that need no rest, on journeys 



48 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that have no ends. So far as these thrown-off worlds 
resemble thrown-off sparks; so far they partake of 
the nature of sons of the residue. 

So, then, the sons of Arcturus may be those bodies 
that were detached from him and that follow him 
in his incredible flight. Arcturus is a sun, then a 
parent — one who supplies those of his own house 
with the needs, comforts, and even the luxuries of 
life. His sons accompany him in his flight; they 
draw their supplies directly from him. They ae*- 
knowledge his authority; they obey without mur- 
murs, and are led on by an influence as sweet as that 
of Pleiades, as strong as the bands of Orion. " Canst 
thou guide Arcturus with his sons? " Think of Arc* 
turns' s apparent motion; think of what was known 
concerning this motion at the time of the penning 
of the text. Think of his great, real velocity. See 
the challenges, and you will be convinced that God 
alone knew and spoke to Job, 



CHAPTEK III. 

The Earth Is Round— The Sea Is Circular — The Size of the 
Earth Compared to the Balance — Bible Illustrations by Com- 
parison — Specific Gravity of the Earth Obtained by Our 
Method for Obtaining Specific Gravity — How the Lands 
Stand with Reference to the Seas and the Tides — Earth- 
quakes and Volcanoes — Central Fires — The United States 
and Britain in Prophecy. 

Job xxviii. 5: "As for the earth, out of it coineih 
bread: and under it is turned up as it were fire." 

"As for the earth, out of it cometh bread." Job 
has divided here the earth into two parts — that from 
which bread comes, and that which is beneath this 
part. "As for the earth" — that is, that part of it 
from which bread comes — Job's explanation makes it 
the crust of the earth, the outside part. "Bread." 
Eatable — that is, may be used by man for food. So it 
extends to the outside of the earth everywhere. The 
earth — the outside part — gives us, directly or indi- 
rectly, all our food. 

" Under it is turned up as it were fire." Under it, 
this outside part, this crust, "is turned up as it were 
fire." Job teaches that beneath the bread-producing 
part of the earth is fire. We have many proofs that 
the central part of the earth is intensely heated. 
Hot springs, geysers, and volcanoes, found in many 
parts of the world, attest this truth. In deep mines, 
wherever sunk, in valley or on mountain, whether 
through rock or sand or clay, the same gradual in- 
4 (49) 



50 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

crease in temperature is found. So uniform is this 
that by knowing the depth we may readily determine 
the temperature. 

Job says that this internal fire "is turned up." 
This statement of Job's cannot be true under any 
hypothesis than that the earth is round. For, was 
the earth not round, these internal fires would, in 
some points, turn out: in others, they would turn 
down or up. 

The center of the earth is equidistant from every 
point on the surface. The center of the earth is its 
lowest point; every direction from this central point 
is up. Geographies teach that this fire is turned up, 
is arrested only by this non-conducting crust, the 
part from which cometh bread. 

"As it were fire." Our own fires illustrate the up- 
ward tendency of heat. "As it w T ere." This implies 
that it is not the fire with which Job's hearers were 
familiar, and that the combustibles that feed it are 
different. These statements from Job can have no 
other possible significance. 

Proverbs viii. 27-30: "When he set a compass 
upon the face of the depth ... I was by him." 
You observe that the marginal reading is: "When 
lie set a circle upon the face of the deep." This 
statement from Solomon refers directly to a state- 
ment by Job xxvi. 10: "He hath compassed the 
waters with bounds, until the day and night come to 
an end." In the statement made by Solomon, all 
the verses show that this performance took place 
during the earth's transformation period. Wisdom 
testifies that she was present when this was done. 
A compass is an instrument for describing circles. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 51 

To set a compass implies its use. Then he shaped 
the face of the depth with a compass. Is it not 
singular that he did not use the spirit-level? Co- 
lumbus taught that the depth was round in the latter 
part of the fifteenth century, and received for it the 
title of "idle dreamer." Let us examine the above 
text from Job — viz., "He hath compassed the waters 
with bounds, until the day and night came to an 
end." 

For brevity, beauty, and geographical accuracy 
this quotation challenges the learning of the world. 
No human mind has ever afforded as much in so few 
words. At one sweep of the compass he rounded the 
depth, marked the bounds of three oceans, and 
traced the line where day and night come to an end. 
This can be said of only two circles on the earth's 
surface: the arctic and antarctic circles. Could 
we place one arm of the compass on the geograph- 
ical north pole, and move the point of the other 
arm along the arctic circle, it would trace the limit 
and the surface of the waters of arctic seas, not 
even an arm south of this circle uncrossed by it. It 
also traces the line that limits the Atlantic on the 
north and .separates it from the Arctic; and also 
limits the Pacific on the north and separates it also 
from the Arctic; and also it traces the line of illumi- 
nation December 22. Could we place one point of 
this same compass on the geographical south pole, 
and trace with the point of the other arm, the ant- 
arctic circle, just touching the surface of the water, 
it would trace the line that marks the southern 
bounds of the Atlantic, Pacific, and the northern 
limit of the antartic seas, and the line of illumina- 



52 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tion iii the southern hemisphere June 21. "He hath 
compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and 
night come to an end." It is not possible to draw 
two circles through any other points on the earth's 
surface that will meet one of these conditions, much 
less all of them. Then without question these are the 
circles that Wisdom saw described and the ones 
spoken of by Job. We come now to the most won- 
derful part of this discussion. 

"Until the day and night come to an end." Until 
is always the same part of speech, and has the same 
meaning. The only difference is that it is followed 
sometimes by a single word denoting time, and in 
other cases by a verb denoting an event, or a word 
denoting place or degree. The sense is in all cases 
"to." In this case it accurately and beautifully fills 
its double purpose of the time when, and the place 
where, the day and night come to an end. In the 
margin we find this rendering from the Hebrew: 
"Until the end of light with darkness." It is not 
sufficient to say that we learn from the text that day 
and night end together somewhere on the earth, but 
that this ending together is brought about by a 
come; not a go, not a catch. There are two places 
on the earth's surface, and two times during the 
year, where and when the light and the darkness 
neither advance nor recede. By examining the al- 
manac you observe that the sun rises and sets from 
June 17th to the 26th, making only two minutes 
variation in time during these nine days and nights. 
During this period the six month's night traces the 
autarctic circle, while day and night north of this 
circle alternate with each revolution of the earth. 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 06 

This period is called the summer solstice in the 
northern hemisphere from the fact at this time 
the sun seems to stand in the heavens. Again, 
from December 20th to the 24th the sun rises and 
sets, making not more than two minutes variation 
during these five days. During this period the six 
month's night traces the arctic circle, while day and 
night south of this circle alternate with each rota- 
tion of the earth. In the northern hemisphere we 
call this the winter solstice, for at this time again the 
sun seems to stand in the heavens. At no other times 
or places do such stops or standings of light and 
darkness take place. 

"He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until 
the day and the night come to an end." These two 
points are the extremities of the major axis of the 
earth's orbit, the ends. The statement is positive. 
We said that day and night could not come to an 
end along the meridians. Then we must look for it 
along the parallels. About the 21st of March the 
days and nights are equal all over the globe; these 
alternate with each rotation. As the earth turns 
from west to east, the light sets westward and to- 
ward the darkness; all the while the darkness seems 
to recede, as these fly from meridian to meridian 
with a velocity greater than was ever attained by the 
fastest-flying cannon-ball; impossible, then, that day 
and night could come to an end along the meridians. 
Each day the sun rises farther north than on the pre- 
ceding day. Each day he ascends higher at the north 
pole, and withdraws correspondingly from the south 
pole. Now the chase is along the meridians as well 
as along the parallels. As the light advances toward 



54 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the north, the darkness keeps pace from the south, 
and continues until the sun's apparent motion north- 
ward stops. Then the chase ends. Had the sun left a 
line of light as the earth turned, this line would have 
wormed round the earth like the threads on a screw, 
and the darkness, true to its instincts, would have 
traced this as surely as the threads in the tap follow 
those along the screw. This chase was kept up till 
Jane 17th. Then, and precisely then, the northward 
advance of day ends; simultaneously the night ends 
also. Now the sun sends his rays twenty-three and 
a half degrees beyond the north pole, while the 
darkness has advanced twenty-three and a half de- 
grees north of the south pole. Now we shall see 
how day and night come to an end; do not go to an 
end, do not even catch up, but come to an end. For 
nine days the sun pours its light toward the dark- 
ness without an apparent change, while the dark- 
ness, on the defensive, boldly faces the light. And 
for a time it traces the antarctic circle clear round 
the earth, making the bounds of three oceans. The 
critical time comes just when the sun turns and 
meets the darkness. Till now the earth has been 
moving south, while the darkness has been moving 
north. During this standstill of the day and night 
this earth motion has never ceased, has only changed 
its direction. The long day at the north pole end- 
ed precisely when the advance of the darkness at the 
south pole ended. Then they came to an end in this 
sense. These ended precisely along the compassed 
bounds given by Job. 

The sun retraces his steps, the same chase as be- 
fore begins, but in an opposite direction. It is kept 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 55 

np till the light at the north pole and the darkness 
at the south pole have exchanged positions. From 
December 20th to the 24th the darkness traces the 
arctic circle, that line that marks the bounds of three 
oceans. The south pole at this time to the antarctic 
circle is enjoying its summer of continuous day. 
Again, as before, day and night come to an end, and 
along these compassed bounds. The critical time is 
again just as day turns and meets the night; then 
they come to an end. These truths depend on three 
things: The rotundity of the earth, the inclination of 
its axis, and its motion about the sun. We can not 
interpret this text, nor can it be understood without 
a knowledge of the above truths. I could not claim 
to be the author of such a text without this knowl- 
edge, nor could you, nor could even Job. Isaiah xl. 
22: "It is he that sitteth upon the circle of the 
earth." Is the earth circular? What do you say? 
There is no place for a comment, nor could we offer 
higher proof of a round earth and a circular sea. 
How strange that an inspired prophet, fifty-eight 
years before the great Grecian sage conceived this 
theory, should seize the i:>alm above the hand of 
science and wreathe with it a crown for Inspiration. 
This is no new deviation. Every great scientific dis- 
covery found a record in the Bible antedating hun- 
dreds and, in many instances, thousands of years 
any scientific record or statement, or conception from 
the world. In the discussion of many other questions 
we gave passages that support the foregoing theory 
as forcibly and as unmistakably as the above. We 
made mention of the fact in these discussions, hence 
omit them here. 



56 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Wisdom of Solomon, 11, 12: "For the whole 
world before thee is as a little grain of the balance. 
Yea, as a drop of the morning dew that falleth down 
upon the earth." 

" For the whole world before thee is as a little 
grain of the balance." Astronomers nse the above 
language when comparing this world to the mighty 
globes that so gently shine upon us in the far-off sky, 
that it is only a minute particle in a universe 
of worlds. To-day our best telescopes can not de- 
velop a visible disk of even the nearest star. Sol- 
omon lived twenty-five hundred years before the 
days of telescopes, in an age when astronomy was 
the merest foolery. Who told Solomon? We call 
your attention to " is as" as expressive of compar- 
isons in size. 

" Yea, as a drop of morning dew." Yea means "yes," 
and expresses affirmation. It enforces the sense of 
something preceding; not only so, but more. Thus 
he introduces another comparison, which is wonder- 
ful: "Yea, as a drop of morning dew." As means 
"like :" then the world before thee is like a drop of 
morning dew compared to balance. In many re- 
spects it is like it. Our geographers use this same 
illustration to tell us not only that the earth is 
round, but what rounded it. They say that at some 
time in the earth's history it was in a liquid state, 
that the same force that rounds the dewdrop rounded 
the earth. " Morning dew," does this differ from 
early evening dew, from dew deposited during the 
night? Yery materially. Though it be the drop de- 
posited at early evening, or during the night, it ex- 
emplifies by morning quite a change. It is less and 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 57 

rounder. At seventy-five degrees a cubic yard of air 
can hold over half an ounce of water. A reduction 
of twenty-seven degrees will cause half that quantity 
to be deposited. The less moisture the air contains 
the less moisture deposited, and lower the tempera- 
ture when the deposit is made, consequently smaller 
the drops. At forty-eight degrees temperature the 
air has deposited half its moisture. When the dew- 
point is reached the air begins to give up its mois- 
ture; every drop taken from the air lessens the sup- 
ply, and aids in lowering the temperature, which con- 
tracts more the air particles and presses out more dew, 
but of smaller drops. The comparison does not end 
here. Not altogether like a drop of morning dew, 
but as one " that falleth down upon the earth." So 
it matters not so much when the deposit was made, 
if it is only the drop that falleth down in the morn- 
ing. The drop when first deposited extends more 
along the twig or leaf, is spread out, its adhesion to the 
limb being greater than its cohesion for itself. The 
temperature is falling from radiation, and the evapo- 
ration which lessens the drop increases its cohesion as 
the air grows less inviting, it rounds more, the surface 
to which it holds is lessened, its gravity proportion- 
ately increased, while its buoyant force is less. Just 
when nearest the freezing-point its adhesion is least. 
Then it falls; see it as it goes down; it is as the 
earth, like the earth, round. 

Geographers tell us that the earth was rounded in 
the same way. The earth is as a falling drop of 
morning dew. The earth has a falling motion, a 
tendency to go to its center. Our deductions lead us 
to a more curious fact: that of specific gravity. Spe- 



58 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ciiic gravity, or relative weight, is the weight of a 
substance compared with that of the same bulk of 
any other substance; and distilled water at a tem- 
perature of 39.2 degrees Fahrenheit is taken as a 
standard to which we compare other bodies. The 
density of the other worlds as compared to the earth 
is based on the density of distilled water at a temper- 
ature of 39.2 degrees. Astronomers give the density 
of the sun and all the planets as compared to the 
density of water. 

The specific gravity of a world is the weight of that 
world, compared to an equal bulk of distilled water 
at 39.2 degrees. The falling tendency expressed and 
seen in the drop is as this world. This is the thing to 
which the earth is likened; then it is as a falling drop. 
Its weight, as manifested by falling, is a measure 
of the force of gravity. Thus we discover the close 
connection and dependence of all things. The same 
force which controls the mighty systems of celestial 
orbs measures quantities of matter in the daily trans- 
actions of business life. " Even measures of weight 
were derived from the weight of a certain volume of 
water." Isaiah xl. 12: "Who hath measured the 
waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out 
heaven with a span, and comprehended the dust of 
the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains 
in scales, and the hills in a balance." How beau- 
tifully is shown the intimate relation of measure, 
weight, distance. Dew is distilled water. Let us see 
if we can not approximate its temperature. The dew- 
point is 48 degrees. This is within less than ten de- 
grees of the standard temperature. When the tem- 
perature falls to 32 degrees it becomes not dew, but 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 59 

frost. We have it between two bounds — one that it 
can not pass and remain dew, the other less than ten 
degrees above, and a falling temperature. Experience 
teaches us that morning dew is not frost, and that its 
temperature is but a little above that, or about 39.2 de- 
grees. Solomon makes two comparisons — this world 
as a grain, or as a drop of dew. The bulk, weight, 
and density of this world has a relation ("is as") to 
the balance, as is the relation in bulk, weight, and den- 
sity of a grain to the bulk, weight, and density of a 
drop of morning dew. 

Wonderful, wonderful, wonderful inspiration that 
comes to us in truths that prove its divine origin! 

The Lands Aee Established — Where and How. 

We come now to define the position of the lands. 
Psalm xxiv. 2: "For he hath founded it upon the 
seas, and established it upon the floods." We all 
know that every body of land ends where the water 
begins, and that the water ends where the land be- 
gins. There are certain peculiarities, however, at- 
tending the position of the lands, relative to the 
water, that are universal, common to all bodies of 
land of any significance. This peculiarity is well 
defined by the text, " For he hath founded it upon 
the seas; " the literal interpretation of which is, " The 
lands stand upon seas." A glance at the map of the 
world reveals the fact that the great continental mass- 
es tend to assume a peninsular form toward the south. 
ISorth America, coming to a very narrow strip at 
Panama, stands on the Atlantic and Pacific. South 
America ends in the bold promontory of Cape Horn, 
likewise standing on the Atlantic and Pacific. Afri- 



60 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ca, with the Cape of Good Hope, crowned with the 
table mountains, stands on the Atlantic and Pacific, 
or Indian, which is but an arm of the same. Green- 
land, terminating toward the south in the same way, 
stands upon the Atlantic and Baffin Bay. Malacca, 
Arabia, Greece, Italy, and Spain exhibit in the same 
direction peninsular figures standing upon seas. 

The earth in its course around the sun maintains 
at all points along its orbit the same position to the 
plane of its orbit. Had we a small globe with lands 
and seas properly drawn upon it, then insert a pin at 
the south pole, using this for a top, and spinning it 
upon the floor, we have a miniature earth, that will 
show us too plainly the truth that the earth is found- 
ed upon the seas; that the lands stand upon the 
waters. " He hath established it upon the floods." 
We have not failed to notice the nice discrepancy 
made by the Psalmist in the selection and use of 
these terms. He hath "founded" and "established." 
The literal meaning of established is " fixed firmly." 

The matter is safe. The waters cannot return and 
again hold undisputed sway over the earth. The de- 
creed place for the sea was broken up. When the 
sea came it found bars and doors, and heard the ex- 
clamation: "Hitherto shalt thou come, but no far- 
ther; here shall thy proud waves be stayed." 

We have observed that the highest mountains in 
all the grand divisions of the globe face the largest 
oceans. In the Western Hemisphere the lofty chain 
of the Rocky Mountains and the Andes face the Pa- 
cific; while the lower ranges of the Alleghanies and 
Brazilian Mountains face the Atlantic, the lesser 
ocean. In Asia the Himalayas, the highest moun- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 61 

tains in the world, look down upon the largest ex- 
panse of ocean upon the globe. The lower Altai sys- 
tem skirts the great Siberian plain, washed by the 
Arctic Ocean. In Africa the loftiest peaks are on 
the side of the Indian Ocean, and in Australia they 
are directed toward the Pacific, the larger of its bor- 
dering oceans. 

We have not passed over this without noticing a 
design — a designer. Thus the earth is established, is 
fixed firmly, fortified by the everlasting mountains, 
whose turrets, towers, and ramparts will break, with- 
out harm, the might of the greatest wave that could 
sweep over the bosom of any sea. But " it is estab- 
lished upon the floods." While it stands upon seas, 
it is made strong against the floods. Tides are the 
alternate rise and fall of the ocean twice in the course 
of a lunar day (twenty-four hours and fifty-seven 
minutes). The waters of the sea rise for the space 
of about six hours, overflowing the shores and run- 
ning into the channels of the rivers. This is called 
the flood-tide. These waves, unresisted by the land, 
would follow the moon as it passes around the earth. 
So the direction of these tidal waves is against the 
sides of the lands. Here the floods have been wast- 
ing their might twice every day for thousands of 
years. These attest the truth that the earth is es- 
tablished upon the floods and founded upon the seas. 
Tell me how the Psalmist knew the positions of the 
lands beyond the globe from him — a land that had 
not been heard of; one that no geographer had ever 
described or had delineated its bounds on paper! 
Tell me, will you? 

It is a simple geographical truth that the breadth 



62 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

of the land is perpendicular to the length of the 
sea, while the length of the land is perpendicular 
to the breadth of the sea. Job xi. 8, 9: "It is as 
high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than 
hell; what canst thou know? The measure thereof is 
longer than the earth, and broader than the sea." 
This is given to illustrate the unsearchableness of 
God's wisdom. We will not refer to the purpose or 
thought in the text, but the expressions themselves. 
These show a familiarity with the geography of the 
trend of the lands and seas of the world. The whole 
expression is composed of two antitheses: "Higher 
than heaven, . . . deeper than hell." Thus the 
two opposites are brought together. "Longer than 
the earth, . . . broader than the sea." How did 
Job know that the length of the land was measured 
in one direction, while the breadth of the sea was 
measured in a direction perpendicular to that? In 
the first we suppose the height of heaven greater 
than the depth of hell, though each is immeasurable. 
We do know that the length of the land is greater 
than the breadth of the sea. 

Eabthquakes and Volcanoes. 

Earthquakes and volcanoes are closely connected, 
since they arise from the same cause. The concus- 
sions of earthquakes are commotions of the solid 
crust of the earth, more or less extended, which vary 
in intensity from the slightest vibration to the most 
violent and appalling convulsions. A volcano is a 
mountain which emits from its summit or side fire 
and smoke. Psalm civ. 32: "He looketh on the 
earth, and it trembleth: he toucheth the hills, and 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 63 

they smoke." The Psalmist has pursued the same 
course that our geographers have; he attributes the 
same cause, and mentions in the same connection 
these two dreadful phenomena. He attributes di- 
rectly to God what the prophet and we attribute to 
laws. These are his servants; these obey him so di- 
rectly, so implicitly, that it is he indeed; it is the 
touch of his hand that makes the hills smoke. 

Central Fires. 

The central fires of the earth in all probability are 
the fires that blazed up in the beginning, and were 
driven inward by the condensation of the vapors as 
these fell on the earth. Progressive increase of tem- 
perature as experienced in sinking deep mines, to- 
gether with the evidence afforded by volcanoes and 
hot springs all over the globe, attest the truth that 
the earth is highly heated in its central part. Job 
xxviii. 5: "As for the earth, out of it cometh bread: 
and under it is turned up as it were fire." " Out of it 
cometh bread." Bread is everything given to us by 
God for the growth and nourishment of the bod} 7 . 
All our food directly or indirectly comes from the 
earth — bread in particular does; every one knows 
that. This comes from the earth, outside, while 
"under it is turned up as it were fire." Under the 
food-furnishing earth (sea included) is fire. This 
fire is turned up. This turning up of fire is a fact, 
and Job's statement can not be justified under any 
other possible hypothesis than that the earth is round. 
This fire is turned toward the crust — "up" from the 
center of the earth is every direction from that point. 
"As it were fire." Turns up as fire will turn up, as 



64 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

lieat. The thought goes a little farther: "as it were 
fire." It does as fire, still (implied) the combusti- 
bles are not as you have; it does like fire does, "as it 
were fire." 

The United States and Bkitain in Prophecy. 

Jeremiah vi. 22, 23: " Thus saith the Lord, Behold, 
a people cometh from the north country, and a great 
nation shall be raised from the sides of the earth. 
They shall lay hold on bow and spear ; they are cruel, 
and have no mercy; their voice roareth like the sea; 
and they ride upon horses, set in array as men for 
war against thee, O daughter of Zion." 

"Behold, a people cometh from the north coun- 
try." " People," in this sense, is not used in the 
plural, but it comprehends all classes of inhabit- 
ants, considered as a collective body, or any por- 
tion of the inhabitants of a country. Behold, see a 
people; not a nation, a people. "Cometh," by de- 
scent as son succeeds father. From this people a 
great nation is to be raised from the sides of the 
earth. 

" From the north country." The bounds of this 
country are somewhat indefinite. It must be from 
a country north of the prophet. This indefiniteness 
adds some interest to this investigation. The neg- 
lect in giving the nationality of this people, while ap- 
parently indefinite, when joined to the thought of in- 
definite bounds, proves an advantage rather than a 
disadvantage. The Angles, Saxons, and Jutes, of the 
Teutonic race, lived about the mouth of the Elbe, far 
to the north of the prophet's position. These people 
completed the conquest of Britain A.D. 607. These 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 65 

people united into one stock, and from them tlie 
great English-speaking nations sprang. 

"And a great nation shall be raised from the sides 
of the earth." On different sides of a great ocean, 
in two different hemispheres, we are one common 
people in parentage and tongue, holding to the same 
faith. " Great nation." " What nation is so great 
as they that have the Lord so nigh unto them ? " 
In the arts, sciences, learning, civilization, and pro- 
found spiritualism, we have one common greatness. 

" Sides of the earth." We said above that this na- 
tion extended, was situated in two hemispheres, sides. 
The line that separates these two sides of the earth 
is the line that separates the eastern from the west- 
ern hemisphere, and the one given by geographers. 
One side faces the rising sun, the other the setting 
sun. It is a truth that this nation stands on differ- 
ent sides of the earth. The torrid zone marks the 
ends of the earth and is so denominated by the Bible, 
and is the geographical end, admitting of simple 
demonstration. 

This great nation is not to be raised here from its 
ends, but from the sides of the earth. It is not here. 
The earth is flattened slightly at the poles, making 
its polar diameter twenty-six miles shorter than its 
equatorial diameter; this region is called by Job the 
breadth of the earth, and is its geographical breadth, 
admitting of simple demonstration. It is not said 
that this nation shall be raised from the breadth of 
the earth, but the "sides of the earth." The side of 
a thing is the space between the extremities of its 
longer and shorter diameters. Then this great na- 
tion must lie between the Arctic Circle and the trop- 
5 



66 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ics. Tins great nation extends from one degree east 
of Greenwich to Behring Strait, one hundred and 
seventy-one degrees west of Greenwich, making the 
extent westward, one hundred and seventy-two de- 
grees, nearly half around the globe. Two quadrants, 
two sides of the earth. These things could not be 
true had the earth any other shape than that of a 
sphere. 

" They shall lay hold on bow and spear." This 
people, that the prophet saw coming from the north 
country, " shall lay hold on bow and spear," fell upon 
Celts, the inhabitants of Britain; a people that lived 
from the product of the chase, and whose weapons 
were the bow and the spear. This people is further 
described by the proj)het. 

"They are cruel, and have no mercy." History 
says that the Celts were extinguished, or driven to 
the mountains; that the few remaining words of their 
language are found in the names given to the rivers. 

"Their voice roareth like the sea." Another 
clause expressive of the terribleness of this people. 
"Their voice," has no reference to the volume of in- 
dividual voices of this people. Its significance is 
found in the means employed for the accomplishment 
of their purpose, which means added to their charac- 
ter cruelty. This people now have by the union of 
Angles and Saxons become Anglo-Saxons. From 
the first they were democratic. Passing on till the 
middle of the fourteenth century, with the battle of 
Crecy, 1346, Edward III. began the hundred years' 
war. This war and that with Scotland developed the 
spirit of English nationality. This was the begin- 
ning of that great nation to be raised from the sides 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 67 

of the earth. At the battle of Crecy was used the first 
gunpowder and the first artillery. This is the voice 
that roareth. The voice of a people is the strength, 
the might of a people put forth, like the motions of 
the waves on the sea, whose rending from tierce col- 
lisions is scarcely less noisy than the roar of cannon 
in the heat of battle. The voice of a nation is the 
strength of a nation, as seen in its armies. These 
talk and are heard in the rattle and roar of their guns. 
The roar of this same voice moved westward and fell 
upon the ears of the sons of Shem. "This people" 
seized upon his bow, despoiled his tent; the same sad 
fate that befell the Celts awaits the Indian of North 
America. Nothing will tell his story save the pen 
of fiction. His language, like that of the Celts, will 
only be found in the names of our mountains and 
rivers. From the landing of Columbus till now the 
Indians have endured four hundred years of cruelty, 
and have been the recipients of but little mercy. 

"They ride upon horses set in array." This has 
been the characteristic mode of all Indian warfare in 
our country. 

"As men for war against thee, O daughter of 
Zion." They are like the men, and they will carry 
on a similar mode of warfare as do they that " war 
against thee, O daughter of Zion." Of this great 
prophecy, this last topic is all that the people of 
Jeremiah's day ever knew, 



OHAPTEE IV. 

Descriptive Geography — Frigid Zone — Arctic Circle Traced — 
The World's Explorations in Arctic Climes the Subject of 
Prophecy — By Prophecy This Eegion Was Surveyed, Its 
Bounds Were Given — Also Its Geographical Features, Its 
Animal and Vegetable Life — Behring and Davis Straits Noted 
and Located— Also Those Dangerous Ice-Bound Straits High 
Up in Arctic Lands — The Source of the Winds and the Cold 
Ocean Currents^ Warm Currents — The Pole, 

Job xxxviii 16-26: "Hast tliou entered into the 
springs of the sea? or hast thou walked in the search 
of the depth? Have the gates of death been opened 
unto thee? or hast thou seen the doors of the shadow 
of death? Hast thou perceived the breadth of the 
earth? declare if thou knowest it all. Where is the 
way where light dwelleth? and as for darkness, where 
is the place thereof, that thou shouldest take it to 
["at," marginal] the bound thereof, and that thou 
shouldest know the paths to the house thereof? 
Knowest thou it, because thou wast then born? or 
because the number of thy days is great ? Hast thou 
entered into the treasures of the snow? or hast thou 
seen the treasures of the hail, which I have reserved 
against the time of trouble, against the day of battle 
and war? By what way is the light parted, which 
scattereth the east wind upon the earth ? Who hath 
divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, 
or a way for the lightning of thunder?" 

Let us give a simplified interpretation to direct 
your attention along the line of thought to be pur- 
(68) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 69 

sued. The thoughts here set forth follow closely the 
rotation of the earth on its axis, and its motion about 
the sun; these two motions influence the conditions 
about the pole. Our present lesson is one in phys- 
ical geography, pertaining to the north frigid zone. 
There are eleven geographical questions direct; 
twelve, if we regard two questions as being asked in 
the twenty-fifth verse. The twentieth verse answers 
directly the second question found in the nineteenth 
verse. "Springs of the sea." Head waters of the sea 
currents that originate on the lands of arctic regions. 
To walk in search of the depth, sea, is a proph- 
ecy fulfilled by arctic explorers during the last four 
hundred years. " Gates cf death " are those ice-locked 
straits in arctic regions. " Doors of the shadow 
of death" are the straits that stand on the arctic 
circle. "Breadth of earth" is the pole of the earth. 
"Where is the way where light dwelleth?" — that is, 
the road, route, or way to the lightened hemisphere. 
Where is "the place of darkness?" Answer: "You, 
Job, take it to be, understand it to be, the bound of the 
breadth, the pole." "Ocean currents" are the paths 
that lead to it. " Treasures of snow." Here snow and 
ice accumulate by deposit. It is checked out as bills of 
exchange — cold payable in warmth. From here it is 
shipped to latitudes of burning suns and of droughts. 
East winds, beginning here, are scattered over the 
earth by an unequal division of heat. " Overflowing " 
of a "watercourse" is applicable to both ocean and 
aerial currents. These cause it to rain, and thus pre- 
pare a way for "the lightning of thunder." 

We will notice these topics as they occur, noting 
the individual significance of each, and the relation 



70 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that each sustains to the other, and to the train of 
thought. 

"Hast thou entered into the springs of the sea?" 
"Entered into." To go in or come in; to pass into 
mentally; to penetrate; to enter into the principle of 
action. As the teacher was acquainted with Job's 
surroundings, it inclines us to the opinion, " Have 
you studied this lesson, Job?" is the thought; while 
the next question seems to indicate, have you waded, 
walked into these springs, Job? This entire lesson 
was to Job a prophecy that this generation is a wit- 
ness to its fulfilment. Scientific men have spent a 
large portion of their lives making observations in 
this land, noting its light, darkness, and temperature, 
its atmosphere, magnetism, electrical conditions, the 
aurora, etc. ; then they have measured, plotted on maps 
and globes the lands, waters, great and small, and 
these springs in their devious windings from their 
sources to the equator. These are carried into the 
schools as physical geographies, and there entered 
into, studied, by millions of the youths of our land, 
by ten millions of youths from every enlightened na- 
tion on the globe. " Springs of the sea." Streams 
which have their sources on the land (the next ques- 
tion evidences that) and flow through the sea as 
waters of springs flow through the land. There are 
two kinds of these currents: the warm and the cold. 
The warm current could not properly be called a 
spring. Its origin and progress will not admit of 
this designation. The causes that produce it are just 
the reverse. These are larger at or near their begin- 
ning than at any other points. They grow less as 
they advance, and very often separate, one part mov- 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 71 

ing in one direction while another will take an oppo- 
site direction. David styles these as "ways in the 
great waters." The sources of cold currents, so far as 
we know, have their origin on the land, many of them 
as springs. Arctic explorers call these head waters 
that aid in making the ice-bearing currents by no 
other name. Says Sargent: "In these inhospitable 
tracts the snow, which annually falls on the islands 
or continents, being again dissolved by the progress 
of summer heat, pours forth in innumerable rills and 
limpid streams which overflow their channels, break up 
the ice, and start glaciers on the continent of Green- 
land that find their way into the ocean, and are borne 
along by these currents." Says Dr. Kane: "Imagine 
now the center of such a continent occupied through 
nearly its whole extent by a deep, unbroken sea of 
ice, that gathers perennial increase from the water- 
sheds of snow-covered mountains and all the precipi- 
tations of the atmosphere upon its surface. Imag- 
ine this moving onward like a great glacial river, 
seeking outlets at every fiord and valley, rolling 
cataracts into the Atlantic and Greenland seas; and. 
having at last reached the northern limits of the land 
that has borne it up, pouring out a mighty frozen 
torrent into unknown arctic space. Every particle 
of moisture had its origin within the polar circle, 
and had been converted into ice. There were no vast 
alluviums, no forests, or animal trace borne down by 
these liquid torrents. Here was a plastic, moving, 
semisolid mass, obliterating life, swallowing rocks 
and islands, and plowing its way with irresistible 
march through the crust of an investing sea." 

We hope you will notice closely the above quota- 



72 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tions, as they furnish, in a great measure, the char- 
acteristics of this fearful country, as seen by Sar- 
gent and Dr. Kane, and which are made no less 
fearful to Job. 

u 0r hast thou walked in the search of the depth? " 
In modern times "in the search of the depth," or 
northwest passage to the Pacific, had its origin during 
the periods of early discoveries in America, and that 
search has grown in interest till a seagoing world 
joins in the search; and now its present object, 
though modified only by a name, is still "in the search 
of the depth," now polar sea. "Hast thou walked," 
looking for this open polar sea? This has been a 
literal fulfilment attested by every explorer of arctic 
regions. Ask McClure, Belcher, Bellot, Kane, Hale, 
and all the others; each alike will answer in the 
affirmative. Some of these men walked thousands of 
miles, dragging sledges, sleeping at night in banks of 
snow, at times when the thermometer indicated 
ninety-nine degrees below the freezing-point. When 
their ships were ice-bound, they abandoned them 
and took up the real search on foot. This the rule. 

"Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?" 
Let us take a look at these ice-bound ships, that we 
left when beginning the search of the depth on foot. 
Let us examine the geographical positions and the 
nature of the difficulties encountered. Gate signifies 
both the opening and that which closes the passage. 
Originally it was used to name the opening into a 
walled city. The name is well selected. These are 
openings that lead to a coveted city whose towers and 
turrets have resisted the wisdom, skill, and endurance 
of the world for nearly four hundred years. Explora- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 73 

tions in search of the depths have cost more in ships, 
more in lives from exposure, more in intense suffering, 
than did the discovery and settlement of America. 
What the Hebrews called gate, in all probability, we 
call strait. The strait that connects the Red Sea 
with the Indian Ocean we call Bab-el-Mandeb. This 
is a Hebrew word and means the "gate of tears." 
These gates are the straits that have proven so dan- 
gerous to the lives and shipping of arctic explorers. 
Let us follow these springs of the sea still northward 
and toward their source. About latitude seventy we 
find ourselves just west of Disco Island. This is 
said to be the most northern abode of man. Now 
look still farther north and considerably west of 
where we now stand; see that continuous line of 
straits extending in nearly every direction, reaching 
over fifty degrees of longitude. You observe an ice- 
bearing current worms its way through these, mov- 
ing in a direction from the pole. These straits are 
the gates of death; the past has proven it in one 
sense, and we will show how otherwise they are the 
gates of death. 

"Have the gates of death been opened unto thee?" 
This question as a prophecy is made wonderful. As 
it became a leading feature in all arctic explorations, 
it formed the highest wish in all the search for the 
depth. 

"O that these straits might be opened to me!" 
was the universal prayer. In the straits or gates 
were met the insurmountable difficulties that have 
baffled every attempt to find this coveted spot. The 
wording of the text shows barred gates. "Have 
they been opened unto thee?" implies that they as a 



74 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

rule stand closed. These gates are rarely i£ ever 
opened; they stand ice-closed, ice-choked, ice-bound, 
ice-locked. Should we ask each explorer what were 
the greatest fears entertained, the answer from each 
would be that these straits (gates) would be closed. 
Ask the cause of the speedy return of so many expe- 
ditions. Ask why so many were detained to pass 
winters in this inhospitable land. You will be told 
each time that the closing or the opening of the 
gates determined these questions. Ask where were 
the greatest dangers to life and ships; the answer 
every time will be: "In these straits." Every arctic 
explorer will say that these were never truly open. 
Beid and Bushman, who penetrated sixty miles 
westward along the southern coast of Cockburn 
Island, till they reached a pinnacle whence they saw, 
beyond all doubt, the polar ocean spreading its vast 
expanse before them; but tremendous barriers of ice 
filled the straits and precluded all approach toward 
that great and desired object. "Have the gates of 
death been opened unto you?" Let us stand within 
these straits. Cunnington describes one scene thus: 
"Icebergs of all dimensions came bearing down from 
polar seas like vast squadrons, and the roar of their 
rending came over the waters like the booming of 
the broadsides of contending navies. At times," he 
says, "they were carried through straits too narrow 
even for a ship to turn; were forced through by the 
great pressure from without, against which nothing 
could stand." Hartstien, on leaving with the Kane 
survivors, says that he left the arctic archipelago 
studded with abandoned ships. Melville's Bay, on ac- 
count of its fearful character, is called the "Devil's 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 75 

Nip." These are not extreme examples telling the 
fearful character of these gates of death. The story 
everywhere, every time, by every arctic explorer, is 
but a repetition of the above statements. 

"Gates of death." Having shown them to be lit- 
erally gates of death or destruction, let us look at the 
country around and see if they do not stand in a 
land of physical dearth, a land having scarcely a sem- 
blance of life. Capt. Perry, speaking of the coast 
along Barrow Strait, says: '"The coast was the most 
dreary and desolate they had ever seen in the arctic 
world, scarcely presenting a semblance of animal or 
vegetable life." At Cape Kaler they entered another 
strait, Arctic Sound. They sent a party to explore a 
river, upon the banks of which they expected to find 
an Eskimo encampment. All, however, was silent 
and deserted. Even these hardy natives, bred amid 
the polar ice, had removed from so barren a spot. 
Again, when near the arctic circle, accustomed as he 
was to the scenes of polar desolation, he says that 
he was struck with the exceeding dreary aspect 
which these shores presented. The naked rocks, the 
snow still covering the villages, and the thick fog 
that hung over them rendered the scene indescri- 
bably gloomy. 

Franklin, covering a distance of three hundred and 
seventy-four miles from the mouth of the McKenzie, 
in latitude seventy, he describes to be one of the 
most dreary, miserable, and uninteresting portions 
of seacoast that can be found in, perhaps, any 
other part of the world. Let us now pass to the 
eastern shores of Greenland. Mr. Claveland, after 
leaving Spitzbergen and landing on the eastern 



76 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

shores of Greenland in, perhaps, the most favorable 
season of the year, says that the scene appeared the 
most desolate he had ever beheld. The mountains 
rose to the height of several thousand feet, without a 
vestige of vegetation or the appearance of any living 
creature on the earth, or in the air. Even the dreary 
wastes of Spitzbergen appeared a paradise. Capt. 
Perry, while making his sledge journey toward the 
pole in latitude 81° 23', looking from the high- 
est hummock on one occasion, says: "We beheld a 
sight which nothing could exceed in dreariness." 
In latitude 82° 45' he writes again: "Only one soli- 
tary rotge was heard, and it might be presumed that 
from thence to the pole all would be a uniform scene 
of solitude and silence." Again we read from Dr. 
Kane: "Darkness arrested all proceedings on No- 
vember 20, and the sun remained one hundred and 
twenty days below the horizon. The darkness was 
so intense that it necessarily produced inaction. 
The themometer fell to ninety-nine degrees below the 
freezing-point. Human beings could only breathe 
in such temperature guardedly and with compressed 
lips. The influence of such severe cold and long 
intense darkness was most depressing. Geese and 
ducks leave in September. The deer and other ani- 
mals as a rule leave these sterile wastes when the 
long night approaches. The mercury runs down till 
it freezes, and far below. Passing the magnetic pole, 
the needle refuses to work without a stimulant." We 
have given you these many quotations taken from 
the various sections of this land of death. We refer 
you to arctic explorations, where you will find the 
story everywhere the same; each recital is but an 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 77 

evidence that this is a land of death and darkness. 
Man has braved every other danger, but he finds 
nothing here, is not here himself. 

A petulant kind of ambition leads numbers to walk 
all over this land in search of the depth, for no other 
consideration than the glory following this achieve- 
ment. Its lurings beckoned Dr. Kane on to find a 
grave, the outpost of this search amid fearful rigors. 
jSiO ship visits this land of solitude and silence with 
its merchandize. It has no city with its hurry and 
rush of business; no manufactures, no industries, 
no thrift, no life. Below all is ice and snow, above 
is heard the rush of mighty, cold currents of air 
making their circuit to bless the habitable parts of 
the earth. The sun sets; 'tis night. How awful the 
stillness! No bells to ring, no steam-whistles, no 
rattling cars, no beasts to disturb the stillness by the 
roarings of its voice. A full moon rises upon the 
scene. Its pale light walks noiselessly over the beds 
of snow that have been falling here all the years, 
and which the winds have piled here, yonder, and 
everywhere, snow impressed by any foot. The 
lengthening and contracting of shadows as the moon 
rises higher or sinks lower, or as a cloud sweeps over 
its face, are the only visible motions; those formed 
from the lofty, ragged, and distant ice-clad peaks 
add loneliness to the scene and fill us with a feeling 
that we are in a land where is no life. The white 
peaks and mounds of snow remind us that we are 
among the tombs that mark the burial-ground of the 
years, in a land of darkness, silence, and death. 
More recent explorations add their evidence to the 
fact that it is a land of death or a land without life. 



78 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

"On April 7, 1895, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen stood 
among the ice hummocks of the Arctic Ocean at a 
point about one hundred and ninety -five miles 
nearer the north pole than any man had ever been 
before. He could see nothing from the top of the 
highest ice-hill save these hummocks and ridges, 
stretching away to the horizon like frozen waves. 
The scene had the one condition needed to crown it 
as the most utterly desolate waste that can be con- 
ceived: it was wholly void of all forms of life. No 
polar explorer had ever before entered an area where 
the air, the ice, the land, or the sea depths support 
no living thing; but for the last one hundred and 
fifty miles of his journey north, by ship or sledges, 
Nansen had not found the slightest trace of life in 
the air, on the ice, or in the ocean depths. Some- 
where near the eighty-fourth parallel he seems to 
have passed beyond the pale of life zones into an 
area around the pole where nature is wholly inor- 
ganic and inert." Surely Nansen stood in the very 
gates of death, in a land of no life. 

"The doors of the shadow of death." We wish to 
show first that this is no graveyard question, but 
physical features of the earth. Job xii. 22: "He 
discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bring- 
eth out to light the shadow of death." This cannot 
refer to the grave, nor does it express nearness to it. 
Has the shadow of death ever been brought to light? 
If it means near the grave or death, then we should 
say shadow of death brought to life. This the 
earth's own shadow brought by earth motions to the 
sun. The deep things discovered will be man's tro- 
phies when he shall have possessed himself of this 



THE PLUMB-LINE: 79 

land of the shadow. "Seek him that maketh the 
seven stars and Orion, and turneth the shadow of 
death into the morning." This is the same thought 
as above. There are a few passages that furnish us 
the thought of death and the grave; the individual 
expressions unmistakably will determine the nature, 
whether physical or figurative. Every time it is one 
or the other; when figurative, then it is a figure of 
that physical shadow mentioned above. Job x. 20-22 : 
"Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, 
that I may take comfort a little, before I go whence 
I shall not return, even to the. land of darkness and 
the shadow of death; . . . without any order, 
and where the light is as darkness." Here reference 
is made to the grave. This is a figure expressive of 
beautiful thought. I go down to the grave land of 
darkness without order. This grave in its turn will 
be turned to the light again, resurrection morning. 
Jeremiah ii. 6: "Neither said they, Where is the 
Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, 
that led us through the wilderness, through a land 
of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, 
and of the shadow of death, through a land that no 
man passed through, and where no man dwelt?" 
Here it is distinguished as a country barren, without 
animal or vegetable life, a land of deserts through 
which no man passed, where no man dwells. Such 
we consider "shadow of death" in our text. "Hast 
thou seen the doors of the shadow?" AVe now talk 
of a visible thing: door. A door is an opening or 
passage into a house, or into any room or apart- 
partment. These are the doors of the shadow; 
the shadow that Job said was brought out to the 



80 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

light, and the one that Amos said was turned 
into the morning. I£ doors of the shadow, then 
they must stand on the shadow line, and will be 
found there. Shadow: marked with slight gradua- 
tion of light. 

Take your position with me at Behring Strait; let 
us look around a moment to see just where we are 
geographically. First we notice that we are on, or 
very nearly so, the arctic circle; it is now the 21st 
day of December; a faint line of golden light marks 
our position; yes, we are on the line of the shadow. 
See that cold current as it comes down from the 
north? Watch it pass through the strait; this strait 
is the narrowest passage that this current ever goes 
through. This is one door of the shadow. Here this 
current passes from one apartment of the sea into 
another, from the region of night to one of day, 
hence a door. Look coming up from toward the 
south. See that warm current; it is directed to-* 
ward this door; here it comes; see it pass through 
this door. It, as did the cold current, passed from 
one apartment of the sea to another, from a land of 
sunshine to one of night. This line here separates 
the Arctic Sea from the Pacific; this door connects 
them. These two seas have been going in and out 
here ever since the waters were gathered unto one 
place. Say, aside from its office does this passage 
not look a little like a door ? This was a part of the 
sea's decreed place, shaped before the sea was led 
into its bounds. Let us now move east along this 
shadow line. We need no compass, no one to guide; 
we can follow this faint line of golden light; the 
doors of the shadow stand on this; so we need no 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 81 

further assistance, only protection from the cold. 
Here we are now at Davis Strait. Let us look 
around. We are between Greenland and Baffin- 
Land. See from the north how the land on either 
side contracts more and more; this is the narrowest 
part of the Strait. None so narrow south of us and 
none so narrow this side the gates of death. 

See that ice-bearing current, fresh from the springs 
of the sea, as it approaches us from the north. It is 
now passing through the strait. Let us look about 
and see what changes are made here. We now stand 
on the shadow line as before. Davis Strait is anoth- 
er door of the shadow, or opening from one apart- 
ment of the sea to another. This current passes 
from the Arctic to the Atlantic, from a land of night 
to one of day, from a frozen to a sunny sea. See, 
here comes a current from the south; it is directing 
its course to this door; it is now passing through — 
from a land of light to one of night, from the Atlantic 
to the Arctic. This door connects these two apart- 
ments of the sea. Here these children of the sea 
have been passing in and out since the waters were 
gathered unto one place. Davis Strait was named 
door in the decree when the doors to the sea were set. 
Let us move on east. We need no further direction, 
only follow the line of the shadow. Now we find our- 
selves on the eastern shore of Greenland, as far as we 
can go on foot. Look to the north. Here comes the 
Greenland current; now it passes us, crosses the shad- 
ow line here, passes from a land of night to one of day, 
from the Arctic to the Atlantic. Now look straight 
across this current, along the shadow line. See that 
island; that's Iceland. See that promontory jutting 
6 



82 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

out to the west from Iceland. Reader, if you have 
no map before you, get one. This promontory is in- 
disputably the semblance of a hand with its palm to 
the south, fingers extended, while the thumb from 
the first joint to the end bends directly to the west 
along the arctic circle, making this the narrowest 
known point ever passed by this current. Here this 
current makes the same changes that the others made. 
That thumb is an index to a decree, a plan and a 
planner. This is another door of the shadow. Be- 
tween Iceland and Norway another current flows 
steadily to the north, on the shadow line, the narrow- 
est point separating these land masses. Here this 
current passes from the Atlantic to the Arctic, from 
sunshine to darkness. "Hast thou seen the doors of 
the shadow?" This shadow line was traced by the 
heavenly compass when the world was young. Its 
bounds are definitely defined by Job; no author or 
modern geography has more explicitly done so. Job 
xxvi. 10: "He hath compassed the waters with 
bounds, until the day and night come to an end." At 
one sweep of the compass he traced the line of the 
shadow, and modern geographers make this line sep- 
arate the Arctic from the Atlantic and from the Pa- 
cific. I cannot look upon this circle and these doors 
as I even see them on a map without a sense of awe. 
I see the shadow of the mighty hand; I see the great 
compasses, one point planted amid the depths, while 
the other, sweeping around, marks the bounds of three 
oceans and traces the line of the shadow which af- 
fords me the means to find its doors. If you are 
skeptical, be glad that these curious things are re- 
vealed, that you may be made strong. These indicate 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 83 

the majesty, wisdom, and the greatness and the good- 
ness of the God of the Bible. 

"Hast thou seen the doors of the shadow of 
death?" "Shadow of death." We often hear the 
expression "picture of death." This means far less 
than an average in health, bodily strength, and vigor; 
it does not mean actually dead. The "shadow of 
death." More signs of death than of life, a feeble 
condition of life. Standing in these doors, let us sur- 
vey the country. It is a land of the shadow, of 
nights that last six months, of intense cold, never 
free from ice and snow, if at all for only short inter- 
vals, thus making its seasons of germination, growth, 
and fruitage extremely short. There are no forests; 
lichens and mosses spread over the rocks and frozen 
soil, their everlasting drapery of death. A sparse 
growth of little hardy plants of crimson hue grow 
amid the snow. Bread is raised in such scanty meas- 
ure that the few inhabitants are compelled to subsist 
chiefly upon animal food. They depend for fuel 
upon the driftwood cast ashore by the currents of the 
oceans. The people is a nation few in number, and 
that few is a nation of dwarfs. The beasts and birds 
are dull and somber in color or of a snow-white. 
There are no homes save of ice and snow; no green 
pastures or lowing herds. How widely different are 
the lands south of this! These teem with life in all 
its forms. No delayed suns. No lingering snows. 
Bread everywhere. Cows are on every hill. Cities 
send up glittering spires from every hill, valley, and 
mountain. Happy homes, holy paradises, Eden re- 
turned, fill city, town, and country alike. A land of 
much life, physical, intellectual, and spiritual; one 



84 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

full of hope, that leads the highest energies of the 
highest type of life here, to expect still one higher 
in a land of endless life and light. 

"Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth? 
declare if thou knowest it all." Job's recitation in 
physical geography began with the springs of the 
sea. He followed these through those terrible straits 
on southward to the doors of the shadow, covering 
the frigid zone; now the startling question conies: 
"Hast thou perceived the breadth of the earth?" 
This declaration is made to him standing in the doors 
of the shadow, the very southern limit of the bound 
of the breadth. The question concedes an answer, 
thus: "I have shown you the breadth of the earth, 
Job; now, sir, tell me all about it if you know; or do 
you comprehend the breadth of the earth? Declare 
if thou knowest it all." 

Reader, of the pole of the earth we know nothing. 
Reid and Bushman say they saw the polar sea, but 
barriers of ice in those terrible straits precluded all 
approach to that great and desired object. This is 
all we know of it. " Declare if thou knowest it all " 
indicates that much may be learned from this land of 
night and death. We can form no estimate of the 
priceless value of all the information that might be 
gained had we our laboratories and observatories 
here. This expression from Job makes it worth find- 
ing. Read the title-page of Cunnington's "Arctic 
Explorations," and be impressed with a part of the 
wonders of this land. The lesson continues on kin- 
dred subjects. 

" Where is the way where light dwelleth ? " Let us 
first see just where we are in the progress of this lesson 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 85 

geographically. The preceding topic left us on the 
shadow line, the southern limit of the bounds of the 
earth's breadth. Standing here, we see on the one 
side a shadow that deepens into night darker and 
the cold growing more intense as we leave this line 
and go north; while on the other hand we see a land 
from which the sun never departs, where the light 
stays or dwells. Viewing these opposite conditions 
from a point between the two, is it at all singular the 
question: " Where is the way where light dwelleth? " 
" Where is the way " is susceptible of two interpreta- 
tions; either is legitimate, and conforms to the idea 
held in this lesson. You observe the question as- 
sumes that there is a place where light dwells; where 
the way, route, or which of these currents, David's 
"way in the great w 7 aters" leads to it? Or by what 
process is the light made to dwell? Close on this fol- 
lows: "And as for darkness, where is the place there- 
of?" This question is answered by the author in 
terms that this age can not improve: "That thou 
shouldst take it to the bound thereof " — the pole. 
This intimates, by "take it," that Job know^s that 
the place of darkness is at the bound of the breadth 
of the earth, the extremity of its shorter diameter. 
" That thou shouldest know the paths to the house 
thereof." Those warm currents that Job has been 
watching and studying lead to it. Job, you know 
it. Proof, next verse: "Knowest thou it, because 
thou wast then born? or because the number of thy 
days is great? " Demands how he learned it. Travel- 
ing along these paths, we find ourselves now in the 
house of darkness. The lesson turns to the leading 
features of this land. "Hast thou entered into the 



86 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

treasures of the snow?" As is said of the springs 
of the sea, "entered" has two significations: to lit- 
erally go into, as did many of our explorers, who 
slept in banks of it, who made houses of it and 
X^assed winters there; or had you studied these things? 
If you have studied this lesson, Job, have entered 
into it, you see why it is called treasures. These 
have been deposited here from year to year since the 
world was made; from these banks — only banks of 
deposit — the world is ever drawing its most valued 
treasures. The winds start here as empty bottles, 
are borne to the land of vapors, there tilled and pass 
all over the globe to bless life; returning, they are 
bathed in these snows, renovated, and off again. 
Psalm cxxxv. 7: "He bringeth the wind out of his 
treasuries." Where does the wind come from? De- 
termine that, and you can locate his treasures. Fol- 
low the wind; it will lead you there. 

" Or hast thou seen the treasures of hail? " This is 
so definitely modified by the next clause that we need 
not be mistaken as to the expenditure of these treas- 
ures of hail, " which I have reserved against the time 
of trouble, against the day of battle and war." This is 
a reserved hail, hail kept back for a particular time, 
against peculiar evils — a reserved fund for a special 
purpose. It was not so specifically said of the 
treasures of snow ; still these would aid in giving the 
winds their weight all over the globe, and be classed 
among his treasures. Being reserved, hail would in- 
dicate that as hail they would remain for the time 
and purpose for which they were reserved. Numer- 
ous icebergs, started by the springs of the sea, gath- 
ered in this clime of reserved hail, are borne south- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 87 

ward by the currents of the oceans to torrid climes; 
there they lighten the burdens of heat in a latitude of 
burning suns. These wield undoubted ly a very great 
influence over the temperature of this region, and 
perhaps answer other beneficent purposes in forward- 
ing and blessing man. Five hundred of these ice- 
bergs were counted at one time by Capt. Scoresby — 
some many miles in extent. Psalm cxlvii. 17: "He 
caste th forth his ice like morsels." Every year these 
shipments are made; no year has failed to receive 
these precious cargoes. Jeremiah xviii. 14 : " Will a 
man leave the snow of Lebanon which cometh from 
the rock of the field? or shall the cold flowing waters 
that come from another place be forsaken?" "Rock 
of the field." Plains of ice seas. Geographers call 
their product "field ice." 

Note. — By reference to Exodus ix. 18, Job x. 19, Isaiah xxx. 
30, Ezekiel xiii. 11, 13, Revelation xvi. 21, you will readily see 
there that the hail differs in every respect and purpose from 
the hail above. The above was deposited as ice, will be drawn 
as ice, not a tender by certificate. 

"By what way is the light parted, which scatter- 
eth the east wind upon the earth?" We are still 
standing amid the treasures of the snow and the 
hail. "By what way" means: What process of op- 
erating on light causes the east wind to be scat- 
tered over the earth? The text does not ask if it is 
the parting of light that does this, but assumes that 
this is the thing that does, and the question is sim- 
ply : How is the light parted to do this ? Part means 
to divide. Geographers tell us that winds are pro- 
duced by an unequal distribution of heat ; that light 
and heat are the same; light is only luminous heat. 



88 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

This talk is made to Job from the treasury depart- 
ment, the birthplace of the wind, those winds that 
blow from the east all over the globe. Speculating 
on the winds, the recitation proceeds. 

"Who hath divided a watercourse for the over- 
flowing of waters?" This may have reference, as 
we think, both to aerial and ocean currents. The 
objects following indicate that reference is made to 
aerial currents. The winds start from the pole 
south ; as they move forward in their advance every 
point reached is traveling faster than they are, so 
the winds fall back till they appear to blow steadily 
from northeast to east. The return current must 
either flow above or beneath these east winds, which 
were told to Job as a fact. 

"Or a way for 'the lightning of thunder." These 
winds are the bearers of moisture and the clouds, 
and thus become the great thoroughfare for the 
lightning of thunder. 

"To cause it to rain on the earth." This is one of 
the great offices of the winds. 

We said that gates of death and doors of the 
shadow of death were in some instances figurative; 
when so, were figures drawn from those earth mo- 
tions about the sun which allow the darkness to 
remain for a period of months in certain quarters. 
We have the earth, its motions, and the sun, the 
source of light, which is fixed with reference to the 
earth, but which leads the earth in a great journey, 
a journey so great that the wisest cannot tell its 
period, whence it comes nor whither it goes. To 
make the figure we have man and his motions and 
Jesus Christ, the Sun and Center of the spiritual sys- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 89 

tern. That part of the earth next to the sun has 
light; that part opposite to the sun has darkness. 
The same is true in a spiritual sense. "I am the 
light of the world." David represents the coming 
of his Lordship as the sun making his visitation to 
a land of death and darkness. Psalm xxiv. 7: ''Lift 
up jour heads, O ye gates; and be ye lifted up, ye 
everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come 
in." We told you that the shadow of death stands 
just where day merges into night, while the gates 
of death stand in a land of darkness and of phys- 
ical death. David observed the same order as do 
all the others. He came for the same purpose as a 
sun: to give light and to lead. Luke i. 79: "To give 
light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow 
of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." 
Lift up the doors of the shadow; let pass the mutual 
currents of love. If you send him cold currents, he 
will ever send you warm ones, fresh from his light- 
giving and heat-imparting bosom. Christ was born 
December 25. The shadow of death is marked by 
the arctic circle at this time. In March, about East- 
er Sunday, he was crucified. His life and death 
are sending his light over all the world. In March 
the earth has light from pole to pole as each revolu- 
tion turns it to the sun. The onward motion of the 
earth and its turning to the light lift these gates 
and these doors to the sun. As we journey with 
Him the uplift will be higher, till the gates rise and 
the doors fly open and the King of glory will come to 
us and we will be trees planted by the rivers of water, 
fruitful, abounding in good works, living in hope of 
the promise made to them that follow the mighty One. 



90 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Note that the two great physical lights are the 
sun and the moon. The two great spiritual lights 
are Jesus Christ, the sun ; and the Church, the moon. 
Directly the sun gives light to the earth by day, and 
the moon by night reflects the light of the sun to 
the earth; so that the earth at no time is wholly 
without the light either directly or by reflection. 
The earth turns to the sun daily and goes around 
it yearly. The moon goes around the earth, and ac- 
companies it on its yearly movement around the sun. 
Jesus Christ, our spiritual Sun, to whom we turn, 
gives us his light directly, and we journey with him 
in life's circuit. The Church, our spiritual moon, 
is to accompany us, and its office is to reflect the 
light of the spiritual Sun as we and it are carried 
around him. When the world passes between the 
sun and moon the moon is said to be in eclipse. 
When the moon passes between the earth and the 
sun then the sun is said to be in eclipse. When the 
world gets between a man and the Church that 
man is in eclipse. When the Church gets between 
the man and the spiritual Sun then the spiritual 
Sun is eclipsed. That can only occur to those who 
expect the Church to save, and not Christ. The 
moon is said to be full when it faces on the same 
plane the sun. That man or Church only is full that 
stands in the full blaze of his spiritual Sun. 



CHAPTEE V. 

Winds, Where and How Produced — The Air Has Weight, 
How Determined — The Buoyant Force of the Air — The Con- 
stant, Variable, and Periodical Winds — Vapors, Eain, How 
Produced — Lightning — Rainbow — Ice — Storms. 

The Constant Winds. 

Job xxviii. 24-27: "For he looketh to the ends of 
the earth, and seeth under the whole heaven; to 
make the weight for the winds; and he weigheth 
the waters by measure. When he made a decree for 
the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thunder; 
then did he see it, and declare it; he prepared it, 
yea, and searched it out." 

"For he looketh to the ends of the earth." 

"And seeth under the whole heaven; to make the 
weight for the winds." 

"And he weigheth the waters by measure." 

Time. 

"When he made a decree for the rain, and a way 
for the lightning of the thunder; then did he see it, 
and declare it; he prepared it." We will notice 
these questions in the order above. 

"For he looketh to the ends of the earth." The 
ends of the earth, as we have denned, are equatorial 
regions. In these geographical bounds the winds 
get their weight. "For he looketh." He expects 
these regions to make the weight for the winds 
under the whole heaven. This locates the work- 
shop where the winds are made, and defines fully 

(91) 



92 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the scope of their motions. "Under the whole heav- 
en." Our text is so exactly in accord with the teach- 
ings of our geographers that we cannot refrain from 
quoting lengthily from one of these. Mr. Maury, 
speaking of the general circulation of the atmos- 
phere, says: " Within the tropics [ends of earth] 
there is perpetual summer. The vertical rays of 
the sun are incessantly heating the torrid zone and 
its atmosphere, and filling the air with vapor ; while 
the air on either side of that zone is comparatively 
dry and cold. What must be the effect of this un- 
equal distribution of heat and vapor? It creates 
a general circulation of the atmosphere." "Under 
the whole heaven." Continuing, Maury says: "In 
the first place, as in the case of the fire upon the 
hearth, the heated, moist air of the tropics is pressed 
upon by the heavier air on either side. It is forced 
upward, and there is an indraft both from the 
north and the south to supply its place. Now, if 
the earth were at rest, and if its surface were cov- 
ered with water, the flowing currents would go 
straight from the polar to the equatorial regions. 
There would then be a simple circulation of light 
air from the equator to the poles, and heavy air 
from the poles to the equator. The winds would be 
steady and unvarying. Winds are classed, accord- 
ing to the regularity with which they blow, as con- 
stant, variable, and periodical. The constant winds 
blow without interruption in the same direction and 
at nearly the same rate. So constant are they that 
vessels often sail in them for days and days with- 
out, as the sailors say, changing a stitch of canvas. 
It was the steady blowing of these winds which so 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 93 

alarmed the crew of Columbus on his first voyage 
to America and caused them to fear that they never 
should get back to Europe. From their importance 
to the navigator these winds have been called the 
trade winds or trades. They are currents of air 
which are ceaselessly winging their flight from the 
polar and temperate regions toward the equator." 
How truly do our geographers teach us to look to 
the ends of the earth to give the winds their weight, 
incessantly, all over the globe! Our first topic is 
a cause; the object, "to make the weight for the 
winds." The foregoing quotation from Maury shows 
that the winds do get their weight at the ends of 
the earth. Here the prop that supports the air is 
taken away, and the air falls. 

"He weigheth the waters by measure." There 
can be no mistake but that the atmosphere in motion 
and at rest constitutes the questions under consid- 
eration. Our text-books define the atmosphere as 
the great invisible ocean of air that surrounds our 
earth to the height of fifty miles or more. These 
same books define wind as air in motion or a dis- 
turbance in this aerial sea. Genesis i. 6 : "And God 
said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the 
waters, and let it divide the waters from the 
waters." Then the firmament was ordered to be 
precisely in the bounds then filled by the waters that 
make our oceans, seas, gulfs, lakes, rivers — all the 
waters that are now in and on the earth, together 
with the air that circumfuses our globe, that invis- 
ible ocean or aerial sea, as the air is defined by our 
geographers. Then the lowest line of the firma- 
ment is the dividing line that separates these two 



94 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

waters, one of which is evidently the air. Genesis 
i. 7 : "And God made the firmament, and divided the 
waters which were under the firmament from the 
waters which were above the firmament." One of 
these waters is the air, the one weighed by measure. 
"And he weigheth the waters [air] by measure." 
Our text-books teach that the air has weight, and 
that the weight of air is determined by measure. 
"Take a flask that holds one hundred cubic inches, 
exhaust the air, balance the flask accurately; now 
turn the stop-cock, let in the air, and the flask will de- 
scend; it will take thirty-one grains to restore the 
equipoise." "He weigheth the waters by measure." 
It is not necessary that the flask hold just one hun- 
dred cubic inches; any size vessel will do. Its na- 
ture is such that of necessity it must be measured. 
If one hundred cubic inches weigh thirty-one grains, 
we can determine the weight of any number of 
inches. There is no other method of determin- 
ing the weight of air except by measure. So we 
harmonize in language, in thought, and in process 
for determining the weight of the air. The history 
of this matter says that the idea of associating air 
with material things was never thought of by the 
ancients. Job dispensed this doctrine nearly four 
thousand years before Galileo or Torricelli were 
born. In talking on these great questions Job does 
not claim the authorship: "I know that thou canst 
do everything, and that no thought can be with- 
holden from thee. Who is he that hideth counsel 
without knowledge? therefore have I uttered that I 
understood not; things too wonderful for me, which 
I knew not." Here the Source of all wisdom is Him 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 95 

to whom Job attributes all the deep things uttered 
by himself. The "him" cannot refer to men; this 
theory of which we speak, to man, is less than one 
hundred rears old. If I were the least skeptical 
touching the science of the Bible, I would just plead 
infancy; then I would have manhood enough to re- 
turn to my first childish simplicity, and come into 
manhood anew, full of strength and vigor, built up 
by the truth. Again, the very components, or 
atoms, of the air are weighed by measure. There 
are seventy-nine parts of nitrogen and twenty-one 
parts of oxygen in every one hundred parts of dry 
air, and with them is mingled a small quantity of 
carbonic acid. These, with their specific weights, 
are mingled in ratios by volume; are weighed meas- 
ures of particles into weighed measures of one 
whole. Moreover, it is believed that these weights 
and measures have never varied since the creation 
of the first particle of air; at least, since the time of 
the separation of the waters in the midst of the fir- 
mament. Even to admit that the waters here re- 
ferred to are the waters that make our oceans, rivers, 
etc., makes it none the less wonderful, but leaves 
the brightness of inspiration still hanging over it. 
It, too, is subjected to this same mode of mixture. 
It contains by weight — and this weight comes by 
measure — eight parts of oxygen to one part of hy- 
drogen; and by measure, one volume of oxygen to 
two volumes of hydrogen. It matters not whether 
this water is obtained from natural sources or is 
formed by direct combinations of its elements, it al- 
ways contains the above measures and weights. 
"When he made a decree for the rain, and a way 



96 THE PLUME-LINE. 

for the lightning of the thunder; then did he see it, 
and declare it; he prepared it, yea, and searched it 
out." When did he make the weight for the winds? 
When did he weigh the waters by measure? When 
did he make a way for the lightning of the thunder? 
Precisely when he made a decree for the rain. It 
is curious that the Psalmist would unite these three 
things, whose dependence was not known till the 
middle of the eighteenth century. The three results 
of the above decree are produced by the three fac- 
tors, heat, air, and water: heat, to expand the air 
and vaporize the water; air, to be expanded to re- 
ceive the vapor; winds, to scatter the vapor over the 
earth. "The waters are weighed by measure.-' 
Precisely according to the expansion of the air, to a 
measure, vapor insinuates itself; the buoyant force 
every time is weigher. Among the known sources 
of electricity none seems so probable as the evapora- 
tion and condensation of vapor. The friction of op- 
posite currents of wind or a high wind against op- 
posing objects generates more or less of the same 
agent. While we have shown these to be factors 
in its production, they truly become the way for the 
lightning of the thunder: the vapor, its conductor; 
the winds, the motive power ; their appointed paths, 
the way. Jeremiah x. 13: "He causeth the vapors 
to ascend from the ends of the earth; he maketh 
lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind 
out of his treasures." The torrid zone is the spring 
of the great aerial currents, the belt of greatest heat, 
the principal source of the vapors that make our 
rains over the globe, and chief among the sources of 
electricity. The ends of the earth become the line 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 97 

of workshops from which so many earthly bless- 
ings are shipped to every land by trunk and branch 
lines of the four great systems of winds. 

"He causeth the vapors to ascend from the ends 
of the earth." This means to mount up. Do they 
go up? How? 

Buoyant Force of the Air. 

We are taught that the principle of Archimedes 
holds good in gases as in liquids — that is, that par- 
ticles lighter than air will float in the air, as light 
substances, such as wood, reeds, etc., will float in 
water. Illustrations of this abound in many of the 
common things of every-day life. Smoke is an ever- 
occurring example; it floats in the air because it is 
lighter; the buoyant force of the air lifts it up. 
Isaiah ix. 18: "They shall mount up like the lifting 
up of smoke." We notice this from the fact that 
Isaiah uses the same term that we use. There 
could be no lifting without a lifter. As we see the 
smoke going up we see no more nor less than 
what the prophet saw. He could apply the lifting 
to nothing more nor less than to a force in the in- 
visible air. This force we call the buoyant force of 
the air, which means a lifting force. He could not 
have made it more intelligible to this generation had 
he used its own terms. These ascend like the lift- 
ing up of smoke. When these vapors have ascend- 
ed then they are turned over to the winds for ship- 
ment. 

"He bringeth the wind out of his treasuries." 
His treasuries, we have shown, are the snow and 
ice gathered at the poles of the earth, in a land 
7 



98 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

of night and death, a land locked and barred. "He 
bringeth." They come this way, toward the habita- 
ble parts of the earth. If it comes to the region of 
the greatest rarefaction, then it must come from the 
region of the least rarefaction. The region of the 
greatest rarefaction is along the equator; the region 
of the least is at the pole, from whence the winds 
come. Thus we locate the world's treasury depart- 
ment and the treasures stored there. Job xxxviii. 
22-24: "Hast thou entered into the treasures of the 
snow? or hast thou seen the treasures of the hail, 
which I have reserved against the time of trouble, 
against the day of battle and war? By what way 
is the light parted, which scattereth the east wind 
upon the earth?" The last verse strikes the very 
cause of the east wind, the wind that is scattered 
over the earth. The east wind, to Job, is the trade 
wind; this same wind sweeps over the earth, and 
comes from the poles. The questions are: How 
could any one tell this to Job? How could this same 
one know that the east wind was due to the parting 
of light? How could this same one know that light 
could be parted? These things, to the world, are 
younger -than the eighteenth century, born since 
then. The sunbeam is composed of three classes of 
rays: heat, light, and chemical rays. Tyndall ob- 
serves that "ninety-five per cent of the rays of a 
candle are invisible or heat rays. These," said he, 
"may be brought to a focus and bodies fired in the 
darkness." Whether there be three classes of rays 
emanating from the sun in reality, or these effects 
be due to unequal distribution of ether waves made 
by the prism, still we see the light, feel the warmth, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 99 

and perceive the changes going on around us — 
changes wrought by the sun in the growth and de- 
cay of vegetation. While we think that it is a lit- 
eral parting of the light raj, it refers as well to an 
unequal distribution of heat on the earth, produced 
by its relation to the sun and local causes that aid 
in preserving or propagating a more than average 
temperature. 

The prime cause of the east wind is the parting 
of light unequally in different parts of the earth. 
The ends get the greater share, and these parts be- 
come the birth-place of the winds, of the rains, and 
the way for the lightning of thunder by decree — he 
declared it, he prepared it. The vertical rays of the 
sun are incessantly heating the torrid zone and its 
atmosphere and filling the air with vapor, while the 
air on either side of that zone is comparatively dry 
and cold. What must be the effect of this unequal 
distribution of heat and vapor? It creates a gen- 
eral circulation of the atmosphere, thus scattering 
the east wind over the earth. The earth is not at 
rest. Its surface, instead of being one vast, level, 
unbroken plain, is made up of great elevations and 
deep depressions. The rotation of the earth on its 
axis and these elevated land masses largely affect 
the circulation of the air. The winds are classed as 
constant, variable, and periodical. The east winds 
are the constant winds r commonly known as trades; 
but all winds are attributable to an unequal dis- 
tribution of heat as the first great cause. If the 
earth had no daily motion, these winds from the 
north and the south would blow perpendicularly to 
and from, the equator. In consequence of this rota- 



100 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

lion, the winds starting from the pole, where the ro- 
tation is nothing, are continually coming to parts 
having accelerated motion. When they arrive in 
the latitude of the equator the earth is moving east- 
ward at the rate of one hundred and twenty miles 
faster per hour than in the region of latitude 30°. 
During its whole journey to the equator the wind 
has lagged behind, and the earth, which is revolving 
from west to east, is slipping from under it all the 
time. Thus north of the equator are east or north- 
east winds; while those that set out from the south 
pole pour in from the east or southeast for a like 
reason. 

The atmosphere in the torrid zone, being intensely 
heated, is expanded and its density lessened; in this 
condition, being pressed upon by the colder and 
denser masses of air from the poles, the vast volume 
of hot air rises, flowing off in two opposite currents 
toward either pole, while two cold lower currents 
set in toward the equator from the north and the 
south. Ecclesiastes i. 6: "The wind goeth toward 
the south, and turneth about unto the north; it 
whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth 
again according to his circuits." 

"The wind goeth toward the south." Had Solo- 
mon said that the wind goes due south, or simply 
south, I would be put to a very great loss what to 
say — only "toward." Or had the great preacher 
said that the wind goeth toward the north and turn- 
eth about unto the south, we could not have recon- 
ciled this passage. Let us see the difference. The 
heated air of the equator first goes up, then the cur- 
rent sets first from the pole — could not possibly go 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 101 

first toward the north. Reader, don't leave this 
thought till you have fully comprehended its mean- 
ing. We said in the beginning of this work that we 
would give the Bible a word interpretation. Now 
we say more: Press these interpretations with the 
vehemence of an enemy, and you will be wiser and 
the Bible vindicated; make no loose interpretations. 
Sparks fly from the flint that is smitten with steel. 
These sparks can burn up cities. Who would take 
lead and clay and expect these to give fire, warmth, 
or light? Then be steel, your Bible flint, and you 
will see the sparks. 

"It whirleth about continually." This brings us 
to consider the variable winds. We stated that our 
text-books give three classes. The same cause pro- 
duces each: the parting of light. We call close at- 
tention to the fact that the wind first goeth toward 
the south and turneth about unto the north before 
it ever whirleth about continually. Then this whirl- 
ing about continually must take place somewhere 
between the north and the south, and cannot take 
place either at the north or the south. Let us take 
the two expressions and see if we cannot form from 
them an estimate as to where this whirling about 
continually takes place. First the wind goeth to- 
ward the south. Now we know that it is some dis- 
tance from its starting-point; the statement says so. 
Secondly, it turneth about unto the north. Now the 
current is only fairly turned unto the north when 
this turning about continually takes place. This 
must be near the tropics, and then this turning about 
continues to the polar circle. Says geography: 
"North and south of the trades are the zones of the 



102 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

variable winds. They extend from the parallels of 
thirty degrees north and south to the polar circles. 
Within these limits the winds blow without regu- 
larity." 

"And the wind returneth again according to his 
circuits." This brings us to consider the other class 
of winds: the periodical winds. These have their 
origin in the parting of light, as do the others. Pe- 
riodical winds are those that blow for a certain time 
in one direction and then for an equal or nearly 
equal time in the opposite direction. "And the wind 
returneth again according to his circuits." These 
make the four winds of the Scriptures: the two 
currents that set from the poles to the equator and 
the two that set from the equator to the poles. 

Vapors. 
Geography teaches that our springs, rivulets, 
creeks, and rivers flow into the ocean. There, under 
equatorial suns, they are carried up as vapor and 
returned to us in the form of rain. Ecclesiastes i. 
7: "All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not 
full: unto the place from whence the rivers come, 
thither they return again." How are these brought 
back? Philosophy says "by the conflict of great 
aerial currents which, differing in temperature, are 
constantly traversing the atmosphere in all direc- 
tions, bringing rain to almost every part of the 
globe. When large bodies of air, differing in tem- 
perature and charged with humidity, are rapidly 
combined, as by the action of the winds, a sudden 
and powerful condensation occurs, and electricity is 
developed on a large scale. As the clouds form and 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 103 

the rain descends it plays in vivid lightnings amid 
the darkness of the storm." Let David tell it. 
Psalm cxxxv. 7: "He causeth the vapors to ascend 
from the ends of the earth ; he maketh lightnings for 
the rain; he bringeth the wind out of his treasuries." 
There must be vapors, different temperatures, winds, 
lightnings, rain. This comparison is too striking to 
need any comment. We call your attention to an 
application in our opening statement from our text- 
books. In the beginning of this subject we stated 
that geographers taught that our streams flow into 
the ocean; there, under equatorial suns, their vapors 
are carried up. David says: "Causeth the vapors to 
ascend from the ends of the earth." We have proved 
by revelation that equatorial regions are the ends of 
the earth. (See "Rotation of Earth.'') Xow T w r e are 
together in terms and geographically so. Science 
teaches that an increase of temperature by dilating 
the air increases its capacity for moisture, while a 
decrease lessens its capacity; that the rainfall de- 
pends upon the vapor absorbed. Job xxxvi. 27, 2S: 
"For he maketh small the drops of water: they pour 
down rain according to the vapor thereof ; which the 
clouds do drop and distil upon man abundantly." 
Our many authors are not ashamed to reach back 
forty centuries for this expression "distil." They 
say: "Water distils from the ocean and the land." 
Converting liquid to vapor and condensing it is 
termed distillation. 

The Rainbow. 
Genesis ix. 13-15: "I do set my bow in the cloud, 
and it shall be for a token of a covenant between me 



104 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and the earth. And it shall come to pass, when I 
bring a cloud over the earth, that the bow shall be 
seen in the cloud : and I will remember my covenant, 
which is between me and you and every living crea- 
ture of all flesh; and the waters shall no more become 
a flood to destroy all flesh." 

If the rainbow is produced by the reflection and 
refraction of light through falling drops of water, 
did the bow exist prior to the time of the flood? If 
so, it is said that "it could not have been set at the 
time spoken of above." Such propositions are not 
designed to obtain information, but simply to disor- 
ganize, to bewilder, and confuse. The laws of re- 
fraction and reflection are universal ; wherever light 
and falling drops exist, there the bow exists. Our 
observation is that the operations of universal laws 
are, as a rule (we remember no exceptions), ex- 
pressed in the present tense, making them past, pres- 
ent, and continuous operations. "I do set my bow 
in the cloud." 

It is God's bow, a fixture according to his oWn 
purpose and plan, for his own use or glory. He can 
set it where he pleases. Then he took his own bow. 
"I do set" — that has been my business, is still my 
business, will continue as long as flesh exists, as 
long as the earth endures; for with these he cove- 
nanted. The token is as permanent as the solid 
earth. The covenant had been made before; now it 
is witnessed by the bow. "It shall be for a token."' 
It had not been for a token before this, but became a 
token after God's covenant with the earth. One 
man says, "I work in wood;" another, "I work in 
iron;" another, "I teach" or "I preach." Had the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 105 

first man ever worked in wood before lie made this 
statement? All the work he had ever done in wood 
was prior to this statement. The same is true with 
each of the others. There is no term used explain- 
ing what his bow was, indicating that it was no new 
thing'. "In the cloud." The rainbow is an arch of 
colored light which spans the heavens during a 
storm. It is seen only when the sun is shining at 
the same time that the rain is falling. 

"And it shall come to pass, when I bring a cloud 
over the earth, that the bow shall be seen in the 
cloud." A cloud is simply a mass of mist or fog 
floating high in the air instead of near the ground. 
It consists of either minute vesicles — that is, tiny 
hollow globes of water — or fine ice crystals. So far 
as we know, they are falling constantly; but the 
lower part of the cloud, as it comes into warmer air, 
is dissolved again to vapor and disappears, while a 
new portion may at the same time be formed above. 
So, while the vapor in the cloud is constantly being 
condensed and failing, the falling particles are evap- 
orated and rise again. So the cloud is held between 
the vapor and the condensation temperature. The 
beautifully painted clouds are but sifted rays of 
light as they are reflected and refracted by these fall- 
ing particles. Moonlight often shows the delicate 
tintings of the bow in the cloud. "It is set in the 
cloud." Rings around the sun and moon are but 
rainbows, which are due to the refracting power of 
ice crystals composing cirrus clouds. How truly is 
the bow set in the cloud! 

Isaiah xlv. 7: "I form the light, and create dark- 
ness : I make peace, and create evil : I the Lord do all 



106 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

these things." Was not light formed before the 
days of this prophet? Was darkness not created 
till then? Was there no peace till then? no evil till 
then? The conclusion of the whole matter is: "I 
name an object, which is set in the cloud, as a re- 
minder of the covenant between me and the earth: 
the rainbow." 

The American Congress set the 4th of July as a 
national holiday, to be spent in rejoicing and in cel- 
ebrating the event that made the nation free and in- 
dependent. On the return of this day, since 177G, 
the story of former grievances and wrongs has been 
told and this declaration read. This declaration is 
a covenant; this day is but a token, reminding us 
that all men are born free, having inherent rights 
to worship God according to the dictates of individ- 
ual consciences. Was there no 4th of July prior to 
this date? Not in this sense. Would you have 
asked so simple a question? This is not more sim- 
ple than "I do set my bow in the cloud, . . . for 
a token." 

Ice. 

Water, in passing from the liquid to the solid 
state, expands. In cooling it follows the general 
law of contraction until it reaches the temperature 
of 39.2° Fahrenheit. Below this, it disobeys the gen- 
eral law and expands as the temperature falls, till it 
reaches 32° Fahrenheit, its freezing-point. Then 
suddenly it hardens into ice, and attains its maxi- 
mum expansion. The face of the ice is extended al- 
ways beyond the surface of the water. Water, when 
freezing, exerts a force that is practically irresist- 
ible. It sunders the solid rocks from the founda- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 107 

tions of the mountain and crumbles them into frag- 
ments. 

Job xxxvii. 10: "By the breath of God frost is 
given: and the breadth of the waters is straitened."' 
These two occurrences — frost and the straitening 
of the breadth of the waters — take place at one and 
the same temperature. "Straitened." To make 
tense or tight, to press by want of sufficient room. 

Storms. 

These are atmospheric disturbances, produced as 
other winds. It is a difference or inequality of 
pressure or weight in different regions of the atmos- 
phere. "The principle may be thus stated: Into an 
area of low barometer a wind must always blow 
from an area of high barometer." Job xxxTii. 9: 
"Out of the south cometh the whirlwind: and cold 
out of the north." These are two plain truths. We 
know that the whirlwind comes out of the south 
and that cold comes out of the north. It is a little 
strange that the very two agents that produce the 
whirlwind are named together in the same construc- 
tion, and come together in the manner to produce 
this frightful phenomenon. 



CHAPTEE VI. 

Conduction, Reflection, Absorption — Steam — Steam-Engine — 
Cars — Express Train — Electricity — Telegraph and Tele- 
phone. 

Conduction, Reflection, Absorption. 
Mr. Steele, after discussing the above topics, pro- 
pounds, among his practical questions, this one: 
" Why do furnace men wear flannel shirts in summer 
to keep cool and in winter to keep warm?" Mr. 
Steele has for twenty years furnished a very accept- 
able course in the sciences. We wish to compare 
this with a similar question propounded in the book 
of Job (xxxvii. 17): "Dost thou know how thy gar- 
ments are warm, when he quieteth the earth by the 
south wind?" If this question from Mr. Steele 
comes within the province of philosophy, what will 
you say of this one taken from the book of Job? If 
the first involves reflection, radiation, absorption, 
and conduction, what will you say of the second? 
Is Mr. Steele's question really practical? He pro- 
pounds his question to a pupil: "Why do certain 
men wear a certain article of clothing?" One might 
say," Oddities in dress;" another says," Economy, less 
washing, less wear;" another, "The sparks from the 
forge would be less likely to burn such shirts;" an- 
other, "They are brighter, faster colors." Mr. Steele 
presumes by this question why. He asks me why 
other men do so and so. The question goes straight 
to Job and Job's own garments under one condition: 
(108) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 109 

"Dost thou know how [not why] thy [not furnace 
men's] garments are warm?" This is purely a prac- 
tical question — one man, a simple "how,"' one sur- 
rounding, and one condition. Now, it is not why? 
— this would involve an opinion; but "Dost thou 
know how thy garments are warm?" etc. This 
springs a philosophical principle : hoiv did your gar- 
ments become warm? not the man warm, but his 
garments. The heat from the warm south wind was 
absorbed, the warmth from the body helped to 
warm them by conduction. This is the third of four 
questions propounded to Job in this recitation. 
This recitation opened with the fourteenth verse: 
"Stand still, and consider the wondrous works of 
God." This is one of the wondrous works of God. 

Now you are saying that I answered Job's ques- 
tion ; that he did not do so. That is very true. Mr. 
Steele did not answer his. We think that he might 
spend an opinion only, and might give a correct an- 
swer to Job's question. If we estimate ability to 
answer questions by ability to frame a consistent, 
intricate question, we would give the palm to the 
author of the question found in the book of Job. 
The question suggests investigation. 

Steam. 

We have talked of ocean currents, a thing about 
which perchance the world may have known some- 
thing. But now we come to man's greatest servant, 
his greatest natural factor, one that has had more 
to do perhaps in elevating him in a social, a literary, 
and a spiritual sense than any of the means given 
him ; at the same time, one that had not been known, 



110 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

had not been heard of, had not been imagined by 
him even in his idlest dreamings till but a few years 
ago. Its achievements have been wonderful in- 
deed. Could the whole story be told it would seem 
a mere fiction. One unacquainted with its powers 
and its adaptability to serve man would think it a 
vision, a fairy tale taken from the "Arabian Nights." 
These powers will embalm the name of Watts and 
Fulton, and make them as lasting as fire and water. 
Rivers are made great thoroughfares against the cur- 
rent as with it; oceans have become traversable; dis- 
tance is counted as nothing; across great continents 
move vast caravans like burning meteors; men and 
women journey around the world for business or 
pleasure. To this agent hundreds of tons are no 
burden. It leads most splendid palaces both upon 
the land and upon the sea. It is the banner of an 
advanced civilization, leading on the arts and 
sciences, learning and literature, in our own coun- 
try, and sending these, like light, to all the world. 
This power, the factors that evolve it, the causes that 
bring it about, passed the eye of the prophet. Isaiah 
lxiv. 2, 4, 5 : "As when the melting fire burneth, the 
fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name 
known to thine adversaries, that the nations may 
tremble at thy presence!" "For since the beginning 
of the world men have not heard, nor perceived by 
the ear, neither hath the eye seen, O God, besides 
thee, what he hath prepared for him that waiteth 
for him. Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and work- 
eth righteousness, those that remember thee in thy 
ways." This is a prophecy from an eminent proph- 
et; and all the world knows that this prophecy is at 



THE PLUMB-LINE. Ill 

least twenty-five hundred years older than man's 
discovery of the latent energies of water as devel- 
oped in steam. 

"As when the melting fire burnetii." "As when" 
is equivalent to when, at the very time, the fire is 
imparting its heat to the water in a way to put work 
into it. 

"The melting fire burnetii." The heat that it 
takes to boil ice-cold water will raise iron to a glow- 
ing red. The temperature of v> T ater cannot be raised 
above the boiling-point unless the steam be confined; 
then the extra heat force is expended in expanding 
the water into steam, and is of the same temperature 
as the water from which it is made. Nearly one 
thousand degrees of heat become latent in this proc- 
ess. It really requires more heat to raise water to 
a high degree of specific heat than any other sub- 
stance, save one or two unimportant exceptions. In 
the furnaces that are used for producing steam 
grates are melted, bars bent, doors burned — a melt- 
ing fire is kept up. 

"The fire causeth the waters to boil." The melt- 
ing fire of the furnace is only to raise the tempera- 
ture to the boiling-point — "to make thy name 
known." This is the steam-generating point. At 
this temperature, 212°, water boils, and, as we have 
said, it cannot be raised above that point unless the 
steam be confined. Thermometers are not two hun- 
dred years old. It is true that Isaiah knew water 
boiled, and it is not necessary that he should have 
known it boiled at 212° Fahrenheit; but it is curi- 
ous that he should have named that temperature 
and that only that does work. How did he know 



112 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

but that a less temperature would do the work? 
Steam is but melted water. How did he kuow that 
any temperature would do this? How could he say 
that boiling water would make His name known? 

"To make thy name known to thine adversaries." 
This is the object. Great means are employed for 
a great purpose. It begins with God's friends, that 
his adversaries may know and acknowledge him. 

"That the nations may tremble at thy presence." 
What an extended influence is wielded by this boil- 
ing water! It is to make thy name known to thine 
adversaries. It is to make nations tremble. It is 
not for a personal influence. Nothing has had more 
to do than steam in making his name known. Go to 
our steam printing-presses; light and learning radi- 
ate in every direction. Bibles are printed by the 
millions and placed upon the shoulders of this agent 
and borne over the world. When they can not be 
sold they are given away. Tons of Sunday-school 
literature are scattered weekly. Every corner and 
nook learns of him. Go to Mohammedan countries; 
our Bibles and other publications were not admitted 
there till the day of steam printing-presses. Go to 
heathen lands where very debasing forms of idolatry 
are practised; these are his adversaries; they wor- 
ship other gods. China, Africa, and the islands of 
the sea are accepting him. Watch the ship-loads of 
missionaries as they land to tell of his name. See 
the astonished, trembling populace as they look on 
with fear and misgiving. Think of the fearful su- 
perstitions that hang like clouds over their minds as 
they bend to the works of their own hands. Then 
von will know whv the fire causeth the water to boil. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 113 

God's wonderful dealings have most frequently been 
for a double purpose : to benefit the patient, faithful 
believer and to carry fear to his enemies. 

'•For since the beginning of the world men have 
not heard, nor perceived by the ear, neither hath the 
eye seen, O God, besides thee, what he hath prepared 
for him that waiteth for him." Nothing like it since 
the world began. No one save God himself knows 
what was prepared for him that waiteth for him. 
Then he prepared a something for the man or nation 
that waiteth for him, a something that eye nor ear 
has ever reached. I do not say that he speaks of the 
invisibleness of steam; will only say that it is invis- 
ible. It is "for him that waiteth for him." Who 
discovered the hidden energies of steam? A people 
"that waiteth for him." Who wrought appliances to 
hold it in subjection? A Christian people. Who 
grasped the unseen force of the electric spark and 
gave it in bondage to man? A people "that waiteth 
for him." The whole is answered by the fifth verse : 
"Thou meetest him that rejoiceth and worketh right- 
eousness, those that remember thee in thy ways.'' 
Study God in his ways, and every time the result is 
that you will find him and some good thing. He has 
ever helped that people that acknowledged him and 
have helped themselves. 

"Thou meetest him." We have the assurance 
that if we go toward him he will come toward us. 
He will divide the distance with us in every under- 
taking when his name is to be made known and him- 
self to be acknowledged. The history of great dis- 
coveries and great inventions shows that the first- 
fruits of these were reaped by a nation that waited 
8 



114 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

for him, a nation called by his name. These high 
motive powers were prepared for and developed by 
that people of whom the prophet speaks. We should 
regard every great invention, especially one that 
does so much for man in working good, as a witness 
of him to make his name known among the less fa- 
vored, as a living testimony against those who do not 
fear him. 

Psalm xxxi. 19: "O how great is thy goodness, 
which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee; 
which thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee 
before the sons of men!" 

Steam-Engine. 
Speaking of the leviathan, a striking analogy of 
the engine is drawn in Job xli., beginning with the 
fourteenth verse and including the remaining part 
of the chapter: "Who can open the doors of his face? 
his teeth are terrible round about. His scales are 
his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. One 
is so near to another, that no air can come between 
theui. They are joined one to another, they stick 
together, that they can not be sundered." This is a 
very good comparison of the construction of a boiler. 
Its strength and the closeness of its parts are snch 
as to prevent the admission of air, too strong to be 
sundered. "By his neesings a light doth shine, and 
his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. Out 
of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire 
leap out. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of 
a seething pot or caldron." "By his neesings," or 
sneezing, which is the same. Sneezing is ejecting 
the air violently from the lungs through the nostrils. 



THE rLUMB-LINE. 115 

"Out of his nostrils goeth smoke." By violent and 
irregular ejection of the air from the smoke-stack we 
have a spasmodic chug! chug! fizz! fizz! very similar 
to sneezing. "His eyes are like the eyelids of the 
morning." The open doors of the furnace at night, 
revealing the red-hot pipes, together with the bright, 
dazzling Drummond light from the head of the boil- 
er, find a similarity in the eyelids of the morning. 
So "out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks 
of fire leap out." The expression "as out of a seeth- 
ing pot or caldron" means that these things are eject- 
ed as if or just like they are thrown out by the force 
of a steam-boiler. "His breath kindleth coals, and 
a flame goeth out of his mouth." The rarefied air in 
the pipe is pressed by a column beneath, which rush- 
es in to fill the vacuum, and feeds the flame as on 
this moving monster goes. "In his neck remaineth 
strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him." 
"In his neck" — the long, bent pipe that extends 
from the boiler and communicates with the engine — 
"remaineth strength." All the latent energies of 
this great seething pot are here held for use. The 
throttle-valve, or throat- valve, is situated at the end 
of the pipe that communicates with the boiler. This 
lets the steam into the steam-chest to feed the en- 
gine; then "in his neck remaineth strength." 

"Sorrow is turned into joy before him." Wher- 
ever this great enterprise is directed, forests give way 
to coming towns and cities. Uninhabitable moun- 
tains become favored resorts, great plains are white 
with cottages, artesian wells are lowered till by ir- 
rigation parched countries are made green and fruit- 
ful by waters that are lifted hundreds of feet from 



11G THE PLUMB-LINE. 

beneath the surface. The dominion of the red man 
and buffalo gives way to railroads, telegraphs, col- 
leges, and churches. Prospective sites often lay the 
foundation for the coming of the engine. Sorrow 
or desolation and waste, a lack of thrift and enter- 
prise, are foes of railroads; but these "are turned 
into joy before him." Great railroad centers are the 
centers of wealth and prosperity. 

"The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they 
are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved." Ev- 
ery particle of this tremendous body is bolted and 
bradded together, so that "they are firm in them- 
selves." "His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as 
hard as a piece of the nether millstone." His heart, 
like the heart of animals, is the vital organ, the one 
that forces the life-giving steam to all parts; it is 
the life situated within. This is the propelling force 
or steam. "As firm as a stone." As the steam gen- 
erates within the boiler its pressure is distributed to 
all parts; higher rises the temperature, the pressure 
increases. When the steam-guage points to one 
hundred then we know that every inch sustains a 
pressure of one hundred pounds. This pressure is 
as great on every inch of water in the boiler likewise. 
We can demonstrate this by taking a flask filled 
about half full with boiling water and corked tightly. 
The boiling will be kept up for a while. The pres- 
sure of the confined steam will be sufficient to cause 
the boiling to cease. Pour cold water upon the flask, 
the steam will be condensed, the pressure relieved, 
and boiling commence energetically. We give this 
as a simple illustration of the pressure of confined 
steam. If it is sufficient to prevent the boiling in a 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 117 

flask, what would be the pressure iu a great boiler 
containing many barrels of water and resting upon 
a melting and continuous fire? It would be as com- 
pact, as hard, as a stone. "As a nether millstone" — 
the bottom stone. This might lead us to think that 
the water underlying this tremendous pressure 
would have its particles pressed very closely and 
compactly together, sufficiently close that its hard- 
ness might be compared to the nether millstone. 

''When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are 
afraid: by reason of breakings they purify them- 
selves." "When he. raiseth up himself." He is 
brought from the roundhouse all nice and clean, 
spitting sparks and heated vapor, fizzing, frying, and 
cracking, his sides trembling under the great pres- 
sure. We watch this ponderous machine as it is 
switched on to the main line. Every eye is turned 
to it. We feel an inexpressible something creep over 
us as we trust life, safety, and all to its power, which 
is in the hands of a man only. Hundreds of insur- 
ance offices are opened all along the great railways, 
that we may have our lives insured against the dan- 
gers of the trip. Hundreds of thousands of policies 
are bought daily. "The mighty are afraid." The 
bulk of the patronage comes from the mighty. The 
commonality, without means or experience, look 
upon it rather as a frolic than a matter of business ; 
they pass from coach to coach, stand upon the plat- 
forms, are out before it stops, get on again as it 
moves out. Free excursions are given, and the cars 
are filled to overflowing by the fearless class. Idle 
curiosity makes them unmindful of fear. There is 
no choice of seats to them. The misrhtv, as thev 



118 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

enter, scrutinize closely the water-stand, the stove, 
or other fixtures. "We must not sit here or there. 
Should a wreck happen, these might tumble down 
upon us." "By reason of breakings they purify 
themselves." Steam is invisible. The steam-engine 
is a machine for using the elastic force of steam. 
The moment the steam comes in contact with the air 
its elasticity is broken and it is condensed into mi- 
nute globules, floating in the air; thus steam renders 
the vapor apparently visible. This condensed steam 
gives us the purest water. "By reason of breakings 
they purify themselves." 

The next four verses show him to be without fear, 
show him a powerful machine. 

" Sharp stones are under him : he spreadeth sharp- 
pointed things upon the mire." This may have ref- 
erence to his track. "He spreadeth sharp-pointed 
things upon the mire." In the swamps of Arkansas, 
Mississippi, and Louisiana— where long trestles are 
built by sharpening the ends of the trunks of long 
pine and cypress trees and forcing these by great 
pile-drivers into the mire, the clay, or rock, and 
the track then spread out upon these — we see 
what Job saw, "He spreadeth sharp-pointed things 
upon the mire," and our minds realize the striking 
analogy. 

"He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh 
the sea like a pot of ointment." Here the field of its 
operation is transferred to the sea. The ponderous 
wheels drive the water in waves behind and leave it 
beaten into spray and foam along its track. "He 
maketh a path to shine after him; one would think 
the deep to be hoary. Upon earth there is not his 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 119 

like, who is made without fear. He beholdeth all 
high things: he is a king over all the children of 
pride." The last clause is : " He is a king over all the 
children of pride." Great material wealth is the 
chief support of pride. The devil thought to tempt 
the pride and vanity of the Saviour by offering him 
all the kingdoms of earth and the glory thereof if he 
Avould worship him. The tempting of spiritualism 
is poverty, while the tempting of pride and vanity 
:'s wealth. "Upon the earth there is not his like." 
•He raiseth himself up." To-day in New York; in 
seven days more he is in San Francisco, three thou- 
sand miles away. He drinks of the Gulf to-day; in 
three days more he quenches his thirst from the 
Great Lakes. Those who own and control him are 
transported from place to place in princely palaces. 
He is the pride, the boast, the sovereign of a nation. 
He equalizes the products, the manufactures, the 
minerals ; he makes the places where they are not, as 
abundant as where they are. "He is a king over all 
the children of pride." His revenue is the revenue of 
pride. 

Xahuru ii. 1: "The chariots shall rage in the 
streets, they shall jostle one against another in the 
broad ways : they shall seem like torches, they shall 
run like the lightnings." This, we may say. was 
written by the prophet Xahuni against Xineveh. We 
believe that Sodoms and Gomorrahs, Xinevehs and 
Babylons, are repeating themselves. The thing that 
would destroy Sodom then would to-day; the thing 
that would spare Xineveh then would to-day; the 
things that would be written against them would 
be written against this generation. The conflict 



120 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

lias always been between his people and their op- 
ponents. 

"They shall run like the lightnings." In speaking 
of lightning we call it a current. It is a force. So 
steam as force is transmitted from particle to parti- 
cle by displacement. Steam transmits its force sim- 
ilarly; it has a conductor to guide it in its course. 
So have these chariots. Lightning moves in straight 
lines, with greater velocity than any other thing sa\e 
light. These chariots move with greater velocity tharj 
any other contrivance framed by man. The compar! 
ison is well selected. In the days of the prophet no 
such chariots were known; none fill so well the com- 
parison as do our lightning express trains of to-day. 
They receive this name from their swiftness. We 
have called them by just what the prophet said they 
run like. More, these are now driven, especially in 
our cities, by the very force that they "run like." 
These things are to take place in the day of his prep- 
aration. 

Telegraph. 

We have noticed that lightning is distinguished 
in the Bible : First, those electric discharges that we 
see during a storm or an approaching storm. Such 
are denominated lightning of thunder, lightning 
for the rain. These expressions of attendant pur- 
pose show too plainly the truth that we are to con- 
sider these apart from any other class. Again, we 
find in our Bible a communicative, an enlightening, 
a message-bearing, a tongue-walking, a word-run- 
ning, and a biddable lightning — one that can be sent 
and will return and talk to us. The Bible has made 
these two divisions not as two distinct kinds, for the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 121 

divisions are founded only on the purposes for which 
they are used. Franklin proved that they were the 
same. This does away with every chance for a dis- 
pute as to what is meant by the term " lightning." We 
are further justified in making the statement that 
the Bible is not silent touching the process by which 
the test was made to prove the identity of lightning 
and electricity. We propose to notice man's first 
efforts to lay hands on the lightning, to make it 
serve him, after we have given revelation's process 
as a prophecy. Psalm lxxiii. 9, 10: "They set their 
mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walketh 
through the earth. Therefore his people return 
hither: and waters of a full cup are wrung out to 
them." Before commenting on these passages let 
us ask you to examine the preceding verses and the 
two verses that follow our text. In them are plainly 
set forth the characteristics of rich, prosperous, 
proud, and powerful corporations, such as have ever 
controlled this lightning-bearer. "Their eyes stand 
out with fatness: they have more than heart could 
wish." Is that not verified in every case? In the 
text under consideration we have two declarations 
and a conclusion : 

"They set their mouth against the heavens." 
"Their tongue walketh through the earth." 
Conclusion: "Therefore his people return hither: and 
waters of a full cup are wrung out to them." 

"They set their mouth against the heavens." The 
terms "they" and "their" show that more than one 
person had a hand in the matter. Mouth is in the 
singular, and the text makes it the property of they, 
the parties that set it. A mouth belonging to more 



122 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

than one person! No reflecting mind would consid- 
er this a mouth having a tongue and the other modu- 
lating organs of speech, and the property of more 
than one person. Then it must be something else. 
This was set against the heavens. Against means 
"opposition to." Heaven, we said, is the expanse of 
air above and around the earth. " Heavens," as used 
in the text, refers to the vapors in the air, the clouds. 
Now, with these explanations, suppose that I should 
say that Franklin and Richmond set their mouth 
against the heavens and that Franklin drew into this 
lightning, and that Samuel F. B. Morse sent their 
tongue walking from Washington to Baltimore May 
27, 1844 — is there a man of ordinary information in 
all this countiy that would be puzzled to understand 
this? Let us review the story. During a storm 
Franklin sent up a kite. To the lower end of the 
cord he suspended a key, which was inserted into the 
mouth of a bottle. This bottle-mouth was against 
the clouds, inasmuch as it was opposite to and con- 
nected with the clouds by a cord. Along this con- 
ducting cord lightning from the clouds descended 
and entered this bottle. Thus Franklin proved the 
identity of lightning and electricity. Prof. Rich- 
mond, of St, Petersburg, drew, in the same manner, 
from the clouds a ball of blue fire as large as a man's 
fist, which struck him lifeless. This same bottle- 
neck, and for the same purpose, is seen on every tel- 
egraph-pole in all the land. Millions are set. Of the 
one hundred thousand miles or more of telegraph- 
wire now in use, every one hundred yards, at farthest, 
has this mouth set, which is nothing more nor less 
than the roof and palate modulating the electric 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 123 

force into a living language and keeping it on its 
highway from station to station throughout the 
length and breadth of our great country. 

"And their tongue walketh through the earth." 
How closely these performances follow each other! 
They set their mouth, their tongue goes to walking. 
If there had been any tongue walking through the 
earth prior to the time when their mouth was set 
against the heavens, we have no account of it. 
Franklin's experiment and its results were the fore- 
runners of the electric telegraph. Franklin drew 
into their mouth the very same force that in less than 
one hundred years did begin its walk through the 
earth. 

Tongue is most frequently used to denote a partic- 
ular language. In speaking of different languages 
Ave often say a certain tongue. A language peculiar 
to a people is the tongue of that people. "Their 
tongue [the tongue of the clouds] walketh through 
the earth." The thing that Franklin caught is the 
thing that now walketh through the earth. It is a 
peculiar tongue. I have been brought up in a land 
of telegraphs. [Not one word can I utter; not one 
can I interpret. I enter a telegraph office and hear 
the incessant rattle of the instruments, which is no 
more intelligible to me than the rattle of the car- 
wheels along the rails. The operator listens, looks 
steadily at nothing for a moment, touches a little 
knob, turns off, and says: "The train is now passing 
Big Spring, one hundred miles away." Their tongue 
is a language of abbreviations, while their voice is 
the vocalizing force caught from the clouds, is made 
articulate through the sound of smitten iron, and is 



124 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

intelligible to the tutored ear, can only be repro- 
duced by the tutored touch — these, the ones em- 
ployed to operate these machines, for "they" who 
set their mouth. 

Note. — This experiment of Franklin's was made during the 
stormy scenes of colonial times, just before our war for inde- 
pendence. The verse that precedes the above text reads : " They 
are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they 
speak loftily." We do not say that this has a bearing on our 
text, but it is similar to the expressions and very similar to the 
breathings of that period, and to Franklin himself. 

"The armature lever is the living, speaking tongue of 
the telegraph" This is what electricians say of it. 

"And their tongue walketh through the earth." 
"Walketh through the earth." Walk, to move for- 
ward step by step. We can see a similarity in the 
propagation of words through the air to that of the 
process of walking. This is done by an alternation 
of condensations and rarefactions of the air parti- 
cles ; the voice shoots out, moving step by step from 
the one to the other, but not through the earth. This 
can neither be literally nor figuratively true of any 
tongue of man; is true, and only true, of this tongue 
of the clouds, heavens. If we know how electricity is 
transmitted through a wire, we can see not only a 
beauty in the expression, but accuracy. Philosophy 
teaches that "in galvanic, as in frictional, electricity, 
when the current passes through a conducting sub- 
stance, as a wire or rod, the force is transmitted not 
on the surface, as is sometimes said, but through the 
entire thickness of the body. Each molecule, becom- 
ing polarized and charged, discharges its force into 
the next molecule, and so on. "The current thus 
moves by a rapid succession of polarizations and dis- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 125 

charges of the molecules of the conductor." Thus 
from molecule to molecule its tiny feet step — here, 
yonder, everywhere — till their tongue is said to walk 
through the earth and deliver our thoughts in the 
language of their mouth. But their tongue walketh 
through the earth. '"Through the earth" — this is lit- 
erally true. "If one pole of a battery be connected 
with the earth and the wire from the other pole be 
carried to any distance and also connected to the 
earth, the current will flow as readily as though the 
circuit had been completed by the use of a return 
wire. The earth is practically one vast conductor. 
Telegraph companies use the earth's conduction in 
all cases for their numerous lines, whether long or 
short. It saves the construction of return wires on 
every circuit." If a tongue went out and the same 
thing returned, and that through the earth, and if 
this force is transmitted from molecule to molecule 
through the earth, then how literally does their 
tongue walk through the earth! The battles of Eu- 
rope, the speeches of her great men, the state of the 
market, are reported in the journals of New York 
the next day. While the busy hand of the operator 
in Liverpool is telling these things to New York, 
back through the earth the story returns. The story 
is told, the operator stops, the walk through the 
earth is ended, this voice becomes silent in the 
mouth of the open jar. This is the mouth that was 
set, wherein is the vocalizing force of their tongue. 
"Their tongue walketh through the earth." It is 
not possible for any other interpretation to be cor- 
rect. 

"Therefore his people return hither: and waters of 



126 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

a full cup are wrung out to them." "Therefore." 
For this reason. We come now to the conclusion, to 
notice the results and upon whom they descend. If 
great and good results are measures of causes, then 
we must estimate very highly the cause leading to 
this conclusion and these results. It could not be a 
thing less than the introduction of the telegraph and 
the many uses for which this electric force is now 
employed. If, then, we are to consider these as re- 
sults emanating from that mouth-setting and tongue- 
walking process, and these to descend upon "his 
people," it will not be a hard matter for us to locate 
geographically and nationally his people. "His 
people." Those named after him, Christians. "Hith- 
er." It is a simple postulate. The more w T e know of 
God in his works and ways, the nearer we approach 
him. The converse is equally true : the nearer we ap- 
proach him, the more we learn of him v his works and 
ways. These are to return hither, come back to a 
higher knowledge of him, find him out in his law, and 
the forces he ordained for man's service and man's 
elevation. 

"Waters of a full cup are wrung out to them." 
"W T aters." Did you ever think about water? It is 
one of the most wonderful gifts to man. It is a most 
fitting type to represent our needs. It, as well as its 
individual components, is a physical necessity not to 
be dispensed with anywhere along the line of our 
needs, though I will not speak of it with reference to 
our individual needs and purposes in every-day life. 
My theme addresses itself to a people. We will look 
at it as a public benefactor. Water changes its 
form with remarkable readiness. So we have water, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 127 

and may make ice or generate steam. Think of the 
fruits gathered from this branch alone! It expands 
when freezing. Were it not for this principle, our 
Northern rivers and lakes would have been frozen 
solid long ago. The descending cold would draw 
toward the equator from both poles till but a narrow 
belt along the equator would remain. In no phys- 
ical act have we a more certain evidence of divine 
care than in this provision. It has extraordinary 
capacity for heat. God uses hot-water currents for 
warming different apartments of the world as we use 
steam for heating buildings. It has great solvent 
power. This property is remodeling the world in a 
measure. The beautifully colored fabrics that please 
us so well are due to this property. The water sup- 
plies the air with moisture and this descends as rain, 
without which all must die. It is one of the great 
regulators of climate. Finally, the sea is the high- 
way of nations. Commerce, civilization, and Chris- 
tianity have been wafted on its bosom to the ends of 
the earth. "Of a full cup." This admits of two 
pleasing interpretations. I give both rather than 
omit either. My cup, your cup, the cup of his peo- 
ple, is to be full. No stint; enough of this precious 
type emblematical of all good things. "Cup." The 
measure of all needs; this is to be full. Or we may 
consider it as water wrung from a full cup for his 
people. A full storehouse, held in reservation for 
his people, to be wrung out continuously upon them. 
It is to bring about a return of his people, a return 
to duty. To none but the dutiful are waters of a full 
cup wrung out — wrung out from this selfsame agent, 
lightning; wrung cut from steam; wrung out from 



123 THH PLUMB-LINE. 

the ten thousand inventions that help man, that ele- 
vate him, that give him more comforts, that enlarge 
his views of the great world around him and its 
adaptation to his wants and wishes, give him more 
faith, open his eyes upward to Him who is perfect in 
knowledge and who fashioned all things for his peo- 
ple. The story of those individuals and nations who 
have the fullest cups is that they are the ones who 
are nearest duty. That life that is duty bound is 
heaven aimed. "For what nation is there so great, 
who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord our 
God is in all things that we call upon him for?" "His 
people." What nations have reaped the first-fruits 
of great discoveries? Christian nations. What peo- 
ple have made the greatest advancement in the arts 
and sciences? His people. What people enjoy the 
greatest liberty? His people. Earth, air, and ocean 
are pouring their diversified treasures into the lap 
of his people. "Light is sown for the righteous, and 
gladness for the upright in heart." This is the hith- 
er and these the waters of a full cup meant in the 
text. 

Let us interview David at a later date. Psalm 
cxlvii. 15: "He sendeth forth his commandment upon 
earth: his word runneth very swiftly." Beginning 
with the twelfth verse and closing with the twenti- 
eth, the prophet exhorteth the Church to praise God 
for his blessings upon the kingdom, for his power, 
and for his ordinances in the Church. All these 
verses enumerate excellent gifts to man, except the 
last; it says that he has not dealt so with any na- 
tion. These are not running men nor running horses, 
but running words. We have shown you how the 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 129 

electric force is transmitted through the wire. That 
we explained as a walking process. Walking and 
running are philosophically the same. Let us see 
what philosophers say about words running very 
swiftly. "With what inconceivable rapidity must 
these successive changes [steps] take place in an 
iron wire to transmit the electric force, as in a recent 
experiment, from San Francisco to Boston and re- 
turn in one minute!" How rapidly must these little 
feet move to traverse five thousand miles in one min- 
ute and make two tracks on every little molecule in 
an iron wire connecting San Francisco and Boston! 
Surely a his word runneth very swiftly." Suppose 
that I should say publicly that a word was sent five 
thousand miles in a minute, then should note the 
comments from the refined and unrefined, from the 
learned and the unlearned — it would be denominated 
by all as a swiftly moving word process, and the 
mind of each would be turned alone to the telegraph 
or telephone. Nothing is made to run but his word. 
At first dispatches were received in certain charac- 
ters made by a recording instrument on paper. Then 
these characters, which represented letters, were 
combined into words; but now they are received di- 
rectly from the instrument; the sound of the instru- 
ment is interpreted into words. To the skilled ope- 
rator these sounds are as intelligible as spoken 
words. They are really, in this sense, running words. 
They are not spelled, but abbreviated, words. 

Electricity. 
We come now to notice the results obtained by 
this tongue-walking, this word-running wonder. 
9 



130 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Psalm xcvii. 4: "His lightnings enlightened the 
world: the earth saw, and trembled." "His light- 
nings enlightened the world." Already we begin to 
see and feel its effects. Its lights are looming up till 
a new dawn is breaking upon us. The arts and 
sciences are elevating their eyes to a higher plain; 
they seek to breathe a purer air. Electrotyping is 
the process of depositing metals from their solution 
by electricity. It is used in copying medals, wood- 
cuts, type, etc. We need but an impression taken in 
wax and a common battery to do this work. Elec- 
troplating is the process of coating with silver or 
gold. Our baser metals become as bright as silver 
or gold ; can be done by any hand, and with incredi- 
ble speed. "While the plate is hanging in the solu- 
tion there is no noise heard or bubbling seen. The 
most delicate sense fails to detect any movement. 
Yet the mysterious electric force is contiually draw- 
ing particles of ruddy, solid copper out of the blue 
liquid and noiselessly as the fall of snowflakes drop- 
ping them on the mold, producing a metal purer than 
any chemist can manufacture, spreading it with a 
uniformity no artist can attain, and copying every 
line with a fidelity that knows no mistake." 

From ocean to ocean across the continent these 
lightnings flash, bearing our messages through 
wires three thousand miles long or more. It is not 
enough. The wire finds a footing and a resting- 
place on the bottom of the great ocean, till the At- 
lantic is measured by its length and we can con- 
verse face to face with the people of Europe. The 
electric telegraph, the telephone, microphone, and 
the use of electric lights for illumination are the la- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 131 

test applications of the electric force to the purposes 
of practical life. It can not stop here. Force is to 
be converted into electricity, secretly and silently 
stolen from deep chasms and lofty precipices and car- 
ried to more habitable places, and there unbound and 
converted into force again and great machines 
driven by it and populous cities lighted along the line 
of its egress. In ten thousand ways it will become 
man's servant for enlightening him. AYith all the 
wonders wrought by this enlightening element, it is 
now but in its infancy; yet it is a genuine symbol of 
an enlightened nation. No nation is classed among 
the enlightened that has no telegraph. 

"The earth saw, and trembled." This is true 
from the very beginning of researches in this direc- 
tion up to the present. Thales, six hundred years be- 
fore Christ, knew that amber rubbed with silk would 
attract light bodies, such as straw, leaves, etc. This 
property was considered so marvelous that amber 
was supposed to possess a soul. Franklin was so 
overjoyed with his experiment that he was said to 
have burst into tears. Prof. Richmond was struck 
dead while performing a similar experiment. Such 
an occurrence must have electrified all St. Peters- 
burg. Oersted, 1820, discovered his phenomenon: 
that electricity and magnetism are not distinct 
forces, but intimately connected. This was pub- 
lished everywhere, and excited the deepest interest 
of scientific men. In the mind of Ampere the ex- 
periment bore abundant fruit. Prof. Henry next ex- 
hibited the wonderful power of the electromagnet, 
and invented the electromagnetic engine. Says the 
history of this matter: "Scientific men in all parts of 



132 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the world were now gathering the material necessa- 
ry for the invention of the electric telegraph." "The 
earth saw, and trembled." Descriptive of the emo- 
tions produced by this discovery. Great achieve- 
ments have always been followed by or attended 
with great emotions. Isaiah said of steam: "The 
fire causeth the waters to boil, to make thy name 
known to thine adversaries, that the nations may 
tremble." "The earth saw, and trembled." The 
world looked upon it with awe, with fear, with as- 
tonishment. Like a shock from its own batteries 
it swept till every circle, every condition in life, was 
electrified. "The earth saw, and trembled." 

Now we come to the very language of the tele- 
graph. Job xxxviii, 35: "Canst thou send light- 
nings, that they may go, and say unto thee, Here we 
are?" An electric battery consists of a piece of cop- 
per and a piece of zinc suspended in a jar filled with 
a solution of blue vitriol and sulfate of zinc. If a 
wire of any length have one of its ends fastened to 
the copper plate and the other to the zinc, the cur- 
rent will flow through its whole length and come 
back to the zinc just as surely as though the dis- 
tance were but a few inches. They go and return; 
they are sent. The very lightnings that are sent 
are the very lightnings that return and say: "Here 
we are." This is a talking lightning, and in the very 
language of the telegraph. In the clause "here we 
are" I am pleased to observe that the verb "are" is 
not found in the original; that the answer brought 
back over Job's inspired wire was simply "here we." 
Let us see what it is to-day. The telegraph operator 
at Nashville calls the office of New York; back 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 133 

comes the answer, simply "I." Now the use of "we" 
for "I" in constructions of this kind has rendered the 
two synonymous, and "we" is most frequently used 
for "I." The language of the telegraph is surely a 
language of abbreviations. Job's wire brings the 
return, "Here we" — this the first dispatch ever sent, 
ever received; no, it is only a prophecy of the coming 
call and answer. Thirty-five centuries slip away be- 
fore its fulfilment comes. 

kk He hath not dealt so with any nation." After 
having enumerated man} T good gifts in the preceding 
verses, and among them this word-running process, 
David closes the whole with the above. Now 
Morse's first message, or the first message ever sent 
over a wire, was: "See what God hath wrought!" 
Does it not look prophetic? 

It is lightning that is controllable, biddable; that 
may be sent and will return; a lightning that can 
talk, and will do it. It comes to us a language of 
abbreviations. What are to be its achievements? 
Already the globe is nearly circumscribed by this 
wire netting. Our own country is traversed in every 
direction by them. These already span our eastern 
sea and tie us to Europe. When China and Japan 
lift their heads a little higher, San Francisco and our 
western coast will tie on to them, and, our lines 
stretching westward, the ends of the earth will be- 
come a unit. Job xxxvii. 3: "He directeth it [his 
voice] under the whole heaven, and his lightning 
unto the ends of the earth." "Ends of the earth." 
All the ends or extremities of the land masses of the 
earth. The sides of the earth reaped the first-fruit; 
now it is directing its course to the ends. "I was by 



134: THE PLUMB-LINE. 

him, . . . rejoicing always before him; rejoicing 
in the habitable part of his earth, and my delights 
were with the sons of men." Electricity furnishes 
the symbol of a high civilization. Wisdom delights 
to dwell here. 



CHAPTEE VII. 

Indestructibility — Change of Earth's Surface — Vegetable King- 
dom — Samson Burning the Wheat-Fields — Iron Chemically 
Considered. 

Indestructibility. 

Philosophy teaches that indestructibility is a prop- 
erty that belongs to all matter that renders it inca- 
pable of being destroyed ; that no particle of matter 
can be destroyed or annihilated, except by God, its 
Creator. It also teaches that no new matter has 
been created since the earth was made; that the 
world contains the same matter, with no new addi- 
tions. Ecclesiastes i. 9: "The thing that hath been, 
it is that which shall be; . . . and there is no 
new thing under the sun." Ecclesiastes iii. 14: "I 
know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for- 
ever: nothing can be put to it, nor anything taken 
from it." 

"Whatsoever God doeth, it shall be forever." The 
indestructibility of matter and of force was never 
more definitely taught by any text-book. Matter 
and force are imperishable. 

"Nothing can be put to it." The doctrine that the 
world contains no new accumulation of matter was 
never more definitely taught. 

"Nor anything taken from it." No matter can be 
annihilated, except by God, its Creator. One of our 
great statesmen said: "We know of no way of judg- 
ing the future but by the past." So thought Solo- 
mon. Ecclesiastes iii. 15: "That which hath been is 

(135) 



136 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

now; and that which is to be hath already been; and 
God reqnireth that which is past." Ecclesiasticus 
xviii. 6: "As for the wondrous works of the Lord, 
there may nothing be taken from them, neither may 
anything be put unto them, neither can the ground 
of them be found out." The doctrine of the inde- 
structibility of matter is here taught in the very lan- 
guage of this day; and more, the impossibility of 
finding out the true basis of his wondrous works — 
not the atom, but a something beyond. 

Change of Earth's Surface, 

Geology teaches that powerful agencies are at 
work changing the face of the globe, tearing down 
and building up; that its surface has been remodeled 
time and again. Kocks, disintegrated by frost and 
heat, have been worn away by the waters and spread 
out into fertile valleys and plains, and rugged slopes 
of the mountains smoothed. Job xxviii. 9, 10: "He 
putteth forth his hand upon the rock ; he overturneth 
the mountains by the roots. He cutteth out rivers 
among the rocks." 

The three stages by which rivers bring about 
these changes are called (1) erosion — eating away 
the solid materials which form the channel of a river ; 
(2) transportation — the carrying away of these mate- 
rials; the lighter, finer particles are carried away 
mixed with the water; (3) deposits — when the river 
gives up its dissolved particles, and the heavier par- 
ticles that can no longer be moved by the force of the 
stream stop, these make islands, deltas, and some- 
times extend the seashore outward. "The erosive 
action of rivers is illustrated by the excavation of 



TEE rLUMB-LINE. 137 

rocky gorges. Those of Niagara and the caiions of 
our Western rivers are the most striking examples 
that can be offered. The falls of Niagara, it is evi- 
dent, were at one period about seven miles lower 
down the stream than they now are. The vast vol- 
ume of water that passes over the falls erodes the 
edge of the cliff over which it pours. Falling from 
the height of about one hundred and sixty feet upon 
the rocks below, it wears them away.-' "He cutteth 
out rivers among the rocks." 

Job xiv. 18, 19 : "And surely the mountain falling 
cometh to naught, and the rock is removed out of his 
place. The waters wear the stones: thou washest 
away the things which grow out of the dust of the 
earth." Above we explained erosion; now we have 
exemplified the second stage, transportation, carry- 
ing away these corroded stones and the things that 
grow out of the earth in solution, and the rock 
moved by the force of the current. "Within the re- 
cent period important geological changes have oc- 
curred and are still going on. The sea in some places 
has encroached upon the land, and in others the land 
has encroached upon the sea; so that the waves now 
sweep over the sites of ancient cities, and bays and 
arms of the sea have been transformed into solid 
land. In 1399 Henry of Lancaster, afterward Hen- 
ry IV., landed with his adherents at Eaven Spur, on 
the coast of Yorkshire. This was an ancient sea- 
port which once rivaled Hull in commercial advan- 
tages; yet nothing of it now remains but banks of 
sand, which are covered by flood-tides. The Good- 
win sands, so dangerous to mariners, constituted in 
the eleventh century an extensive lordship, belong- 



138 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ing to the powerful Earl Goodwin. On the other 
hand, the place where Julius Caesar landed when he 
invaded Britain is now far inland. Ostia, which 
in the time of the Romans was the port of the 
Tiber, is now three miles from the water. Great 
rivers are constantly carrying down to the coast im- 
mense quantities of earth, and cause the lands to 
gain upon the sea."'' Let us lay by this long quota- 
tion from geography a statement from David. 
Psalm cvii. 33-35: "He turneth rivers into a wilder- 
ness, and the water-springs into dry ground; a fruit- 
ful land into barrenness. . . . He turneth the 
wilderness into a standing water, and dry ground 
into water-springs." The expressions are so similar, 
one and the same truth being set forth by each, that 
these passages need no comment, no explanation. 

The Vegetable Kingdom. 

Psalm civ. 14: "He causeth the grass to grow for 
the cattle, and herb for the service of man." When 
we consider the great variety of herbs, the ten thou- 
sand ways in which they serve man, we must regard 
it as a very great, a very essential, blessing. They 
are so nicely adapted to gratify man's every physical 
want that the sentence "he causeth herb to grow 
for the service of man" expresses all. Says the bot- 
anist: "Vegetation extends all over the globe, exist- 
ing under the most diversified conditions of heat and 
light and moisture." "The Greeks were acquainted 
with five hundred species of plants, but at the pres- 
ent day botanists enumerate one hundred and twen- 
ty thousand, and the list is constantly increasing with 
the explorations of new regions of the earth." Like 



THE PLUMB-LfNE. 139 

man and his wants, they are almost innumerable, 
and are found wherever man goes. Certainly they 
were created for the service of man. Says Michel: 
"It is frequently the case that where a particular 
form of disease prevails Providence has caused the 
specific to abound." Says Carpenter: "It would be 
wrong not to contemplate the important inferences 
which may be drawn from the vegetable kingdom in 
regard to the power, wisdom, and goodness of the 
Almighty Designer. His power is remarkably dis- 
played in the immense variety of products elaborated 
out of three simple elements — viz., oxygen, hydro- 
gen, and carbon. His wisdom is strikingly evinced 
in diffusing these products over the whole globe, and 
his goodness is peculiarly manifested in the adapta- 
tion of these products to the use of man." "Aside 
from furnishing food, clothing, and medicine, it min- 
isters most bountifully to the gratification of man's 
more refined senses and to the wants of his higher 
nature. Balsams and resins yield their grateful fra- 
grance, and flowers and blossoms in every habitable 
clime fill the air with delicious odors. The floras of 
the globe present to the eye countless and varied 
forms of grace and beauty, and glow with such rich 
and delicate combinations of tint and hue as no art 
can rival, and which it is among its highest attain- 
ments simply to imitate." 

"And herb for the service of man." Ecclesiasticus 
xxxviii. 3-7: "The skill of the physician shall lift up 
his head: and in the sight of great men he shall be 
in admiration. The Lord hath created medicines out 
of the earth; and he that is wise will not abhor 
them. Was not the water made sweet with wood, 



MO THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that the virtue thereof might be known? And he 
hath given men skill, that he might be honored in 
his marvelous works. With such doth he heal 
[men,] and taketh away their pains." 

Samson Burning the Wheat-Fields. 

The mother of Samson was directed to abstain 
from wine, for she was to bear a son who would be 
noted for greater strength than any other man. The 
use of wine by her would impare the strength of the 
coming son. Prohibitionists teach that it enfeebles 
the strong who take it. Revelation teaches that it 
begins its work even on unborn sons. What a terror 
is this beast that preys upon us in three worlds! 
When a boy I heard a man say, speaking of Samson 
burning the wheat-field, that such a thing was impos- 
sible, that standing wheat would not burn. Several 
thousand acres were burned near Modesto, CaL, July 
12, 1884. It was with difficulty that the fire was ex- 
tinguished. I am told that some wheat farms in Cal- 
ifornia raise many thousand bushels of wheat each 
year, some even a million bushels. In this section 
we can form but little conception of the size of such 
a heap. How is it thrashed? That is part of what 
we started to tell. It was done, reader, by a machine 
which Isaiah saw on private exhibition in the land 
of Judah seven hundred and fifty-eight years before 
Christ. Isaiah xli. 15, 16: "Behold, I will make thee 
a new sharp thrashing instrument having teeth: 
thou shalt thrash the mountains [great stacks], and 
beat them small, and shalt make the hills [shocks or 
small stacks] as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and 
the wind [steam power, the same that thrashed and 



TIIE PLUMB-LINE. 141 

fanned] shall carry them away [from the fields], and 
the whirlwind [fast trains or ships] shall scatter 
them [send them to a bread-eating world]." Yes, 
that is a prophecy. Is it literal or figurative lan- 
guage? Figurative. A figure of what? 

Iron Chemically Considered. 

Job xxviii. 1, 2: " Surely there is a vein for the sil- 
ver, and a place for gold where they fine it. Iron is 
taken out of the earth, and brass is molten out of the 
stone." 

" Surely there is a vein for the silver." This needs 
no comment. It is thus that this metal is found in 
many localities in the Eastern continent. Those in 
Hungary and Sweden are among the richest. The 
western hemisphere far exceeds the eastern in its 
yield of silver. In South America, amid the heights 
of the Andes, this chiefly occurs. Copiapo, in Chili, 
is the richest. Silver was discovered in this region 
in 1832. Sixteen veins were found, and lumps of 
pure metal were gathered from the surface of the 
soil. A single mass was obtained which weighed 
five thousand pounds. "Surely there is a vein for 
the silver." This statement of Solomon's meets the 
conditions of the western hemisphere just the same. 

"A place for gold where they fine it." Humboldt 
remarked many years ago that most of the gold of 
the globe is found in mountain ranges running in a 
direction from north to south. Since then this the- 
ory has been remarkably corroborated by the gold- 
fields of every country. " Where they fine it." Na- 
ture's forces, for it comes to us in the most part in 
a native or pure state. 



142 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

''Iron is taken out of the earth." Let us see how 
this is done, that we may test the truth of Job's as- 
sertion. "It is thought by many chemists that ail 
iron ores are of marsh origin. The growth of this 
so-called bog iron is as follows: Iron is contained in 
the soil in slight amounts as ferric oxid, or common 
iron-rust, which is insoluble in water. But if there 
is vegetable matter present in the water, it deoxidizes 
the iron, changing it to the soluble ferrous oxid. On 
exposure to the atmosphere the iron takes up the re- 
jected oxygen again, and with it water, becoming 
ferric hydrate. This, being insoluble, is deposited 
at the bottom of the pond." Thus, by a chemical 
process, iron is actually taken out of the earth. This 
is the theory of the nineteenth century, and Job's 
theory was four thousand years before. "Knowest 
thou it, because thou wast then born? or because the 
number of thy days is great?" Silver is found in 
veins. Gold comes to us from a refinery. Brass is 
molten out of the stones. These have special places, 
and are found in these places the world over. But 
iron is taken out of the earth. How common are 
these localities where iron is found! Here is found 
indisputable evidence of design and a beneficent De- 
signer. It is a fair standard by which we measure 
national advancement; it is the symbol of civiliza- 
tion. It "is taken out of the earth." Everywhere 
its abundance indicates how indispensable the Cre- 
ator deemed it to the education and development of 
man. Its abundance, like its uses, is universal. 

" Iron vessels cross the ocean, 
Iron engines give them motion, 
Iron needles northward veering, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 143 

Iron tillers vessels steering, 
Iron pipes our gas delivers, 
Iron bridges span our rivers, 
Iron pens are used for writing, 
Iron stoves for cooking victuals, 
Iron ovens, pots, and kettles, 
Iron horses draw our loads, 
Iron rails compose our roads, 
Iron anchors hold in sands, 
Iron bolts and rods and bands, 
Iron houses, iron walls, 
Iron cannon, iron balls, 
Iron axes, knives, and chains, 
Iron augers, saws, and planes, 
Iron globules in our blood, 
Iron particles in food, 
Iron lightning-rods on spires, 
Iron telegraphic wires, 
Iron hammers, nails, and screws, 
Iron everything we use." 



CHAPTER VIII. 

A Psalm Translated into the Law of Gravitation — The Sun's 
Motion Along a Circuit — David and Newton Compared. 

Psalm xix. 1-7: "The heavens declare the glory of 
God; and the firmament showeth his handiwork. 
Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night 
showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor lan- 
guage, where their voice is not heard. Their line 
is gone out through all the earth, and their words to 
the end of the world. In them hath he set a taber- 
nacle for the sun, which is as a bridegroom coining 
out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to 
run a race. His going forth is from the end of the 
heaven, and his circuit unto the ends of it : and there 
is nothing hid from the heat thereof. The law of the 
Lord is perfect, converting the soul : the testimony of 
the Lord is sure, making wise the simple." 

While we design examining each topic separately, 
it will be well first to notice the text in general, ma- 
king a short and concise interpretation. The Psalm- 
ist begins with the heavens. We hope that you will 
notice the plurality here as compared to the same 
term used in the singular below — that is, firmament. 
The heavens, all the visible, starry worlds, declare. 
Then he descends to the aerial heaven or firmament. 
Though this is invisible, still it shows something of 
God. Approaching apparently nearer, to at least 
within the range of the ear, he cites our minds to 
days that talk, then removes the field of knowledge 
(144) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 145 

as far as the scope or range of the eye exceeds the 
scope or range of the ear. The days lecture; the 
nights afford object-lessons; then follow five signifi- 
cant terms. In order to get a true understanding of 
these terms we must consider them to matter just 
what they are to us : names of communicable forces. 
As names of forces in nature we determine the prov- 
ince of each by analysis of its lettered parts, just as 
we determine the properties of matter and its make- 
up. Word is to matter just what it is to us. It goes 
from one particle to another just as my word goes 
from me to you; matter words go from particle to 
particle till all the earth hears, then on to the end 
of the w T orld. Now it is motion. The sun's taber- 
nacle stands in the things that before were names; 
they lead it along a limited circuit. Then as a great 
amen the Psalmist declares this text to be just what 
we shall try to interpret it to be: "the law of the 
Lord," the physical law. These are the testimonies 
of the Lord; these make wise the simple. The whole 
Is the grandest picture ever painted on any canvas. 
It is a gallery of word features orderly arranged, 
which, when viewed through a glass, give us by syn- 
thesis the whole of one great picture, the law of 
gravitation, while the individual features are lost in 
the blending of colors. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God." The ex- 
actitude with which the terms "heaven" and "heav- 
ens" are used in the Scriptures, when properly con- 
sidered, will excite to wonder and astonishment the 
best-thinking minds of the world and stamp their 
use as a direct inspiration. 

"Heavens," as used in the plural, is susceptible of 
10 



146 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

two meanings. First, the firmament with vapors dif- 
fused — G enesis ii. 1 : "Thus the heavens and the earth 
were finished, and all the host of them." Host here 
refers to the things that live in the air, water, and on 
the land. Fourth verse of same chapter : "These are 
the generations of the heavens and of the earth 
when they were created, in the day that the Lord 
God made the earth and the heavens." The genera- 
tions enumerated by Moses are the generations here 
spoken of — Deuteronomy xxxiii. 28 : "Also his heav- 
ens shall drop down dew." Job xxxv. 5: "Look unto 
the heavens, and see; and behold the clouds which 
are higher than thou." Psalm lxxiii. 9: "They set 
their mouth against the heavens" — the cloud. 
Secondly, it refers to a plurality of suns or systems, 
or to all these creations — Job ix. 8: "Which alone 
spreadeth out the heavens, and treadeth upon the 
waves of the sea." The work of spreading out the 
heavens, all the starry worlds. Isaiah xiii. 13: 
"Therefore I will shake the heavens, and the earth 
shall remove out of her place." This is a figure illus- 
trating the dissolution of worlds. Isaiah xxxiv. 4: 
"And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and 
the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll." 
The members of our system shall be dissolved first, 
and the heavens, all the systems, shall roll up. 
Isaiah xlviii. 13: "Mine hand also hath laid the foun- 
dation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned 
the heavens." The passages that refer to the starry 
worlds as heavens are very limited when we review 
the great number of passages where this word is 
used. "Heaven" used in the singular when speak- 
ing of worlds refers to our system. See opening verse 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 147 

in tlie Bible, the Ten Commandments, and many oth- 
er places. 

"The glory of God" is made clear or plain by the 
declaration of this immeasurable vault, filled as it 
seems with worlds and set with suns, stationed with 
a geometrical nicety, and moving in unbroken har- 
mony in obedience to laws that are recognized and 
obeyed by the smallest grain of sand, or that sway 
the brightest suns, that break the high arms of re- 
volving spheres and control mighty caravans of 
worlds as though they were but single grains or the 
smallest atoms. These make clear his glory; not 
alone for his power to create the materials of which 
they are composed, but more especially do they make 
plain his glory through the beauty and perfection of 
those laws that govern them, for these are the 
thoughts of God himself. We can only understand 
and interpret these declarations so far as we under- 
stand the laws that control them. It is thus that 
these sublime declarations, emanating from the stars, 
can reach our minds and give to us the glory of God. 
These twinkling stars can do it no other way; they 
would be but disordered torches scattered through- 
out the great abyss around and above us; for when 
we consider that the distance to the nearest star is 
too great for the most powerful telescope to develop 
a visible disk, it becomes an idle, empty gaze from 
which no declarations of glory can ever come. We 
are taught in the text that "night unto night show- 
eth knowledge." Knowledge is the vocalizing force 
that interprets these declarations and makes them 
full of meaning. "The heavens declare the glory of 
God." As these things have organs of speech or 



148 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

are able to communicate to others by words, then 
these communicate to us by words. What do they 
say to us? The millions of ether waves that dance 
upon our eyes from these far-off worlds say: "Glory! 
glory!" 

"lis the triumph of law that brought us hither 
And holds those spheres in the far-off thither. 

They say that "cheerful obedience to God's law is the 
greatest glory that his subjects can give him." These 
are great object-lessons of obedience and its results. 
David winds up with "the law of the Lord is perfect." 
What law? The law that holds stars in place. 

"The firmament showeth his handiwork." This is 
the aerial heaven, the air. The subject of investiga- 
tion is now brought nearer, for we are called to his 
handiwork, a tidy, delicate, intricate work which the 
air must show. David has varied the terms "heav- 
ens" and "firmament" so appropriately, so beautiful- 
ly nice, that we feel that he must have comprehended 
these things in a philosophical sense, or he never 
could have made this nice distinction. Moses makes 
the same nice distinction — Genesis i. 8: "And God 
called the firmament Heaven ;" not "heavens," as Da- 
vid calls that which declares his glory. Genesis i. 1 : 
"In the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." This can not be the heaven spoken of in the 
eighth verse, nor can it be the firmament, for that was 
not created at all. This is the solar system. Genesis 
ii. 1: "Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, 
and all the host of them." We consider this the plu- 
ral of our present topic, or more particularly the 
air, vapors, and clouds. The hosts are the things 
that fill the air, water, and land. Genesis ii. 4: 



THE TLUMi:-LINE. 119 

"These are the generations of the heavens and of 
the earth." Then he names plants, herbs, etc., and 
the fowls, birds, beasts, and the things of the sea 
and land — these "the host of them." Biut the firma- 
ment or air showeth. The air is invisible, and it is 
quite evident that David knew it. " Showeth" means 
to teach, to instruct. How strange that the world 
would let two thousand years or more slip by with- 
out giving one inquiring look to the air! Patient 
study of the air for nearly three hundred years, the 
new and frequent developments, fruits of this search, 
attest the truth that "the firmament showeth his 
handiwork." One jesting remark of Galileo about 
the middle of the seventeenth century turned the 
minds of Pascal and Torricelli to the study of the ai:\ 
Great good resulted from it. A handiwork is one 
done by hand. Were the air even a chemical com- 
pound, this would detract from the thought. Says 
the chemist: "The atmo»sphere is not a chemical mix- 
ture, but a mechanical mixture." It is the work of 
a handy mechanic. David declares that it showeth 
this. "He giveth the winds their weight, and he 
weigheth the waters by measure." The waters here 
mentioned are the waters of that invisible ocean 
which stands upon the land and upon the waters 
that were below the firmament, a work executed 
when he said : "Let there be a firmament in the midst 
of the waters." How delicate must have been the 
balance, how evenly held the hand that adjusted the 
weight, how nice the calculation that gave to these 
waters their place in the firmament and apportioned 
their parts and fitted each to each, if we take philos- 
ophy for it! It teaches that "the air contains in 



150 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ratio by volume about seventy-nine parts of nitro- 
gen and twenty-one parts of oxygen in every one 
hundred parts of dry air, and with them is mingled 
a small quantity of carbonic acid gas." 

He fits these invisible elements in proportions that 
are nearly invariable. By investigation we are able 
to test and see and comprehend the truth that it is a 
handiwork. The very air becomes teacher, showeth, 
instructs us by its movements, products, and combi- 
nations of its invisible elements. The splendor of 
the worlds above us, their varying lights and shades 
of colors, their regular motions, their great numbers, 
and their wonderful distances fill us with awe and 
astonishment. And we give him glory, a glory as 
to one perfect in knowledge. The unphilosophic 
eye, looking out upon the broad expanse on a bright, 
clear night, might involuntarily make the declara- 
tion, "The heavens declare the glory of God!" but 
"the firmament showeth his handiwork" involves too 
much philosophy for the untutored mind, and would 
show it nothing ; it would be but a misty, mazy gaze, 
returning empty-handed, feeling nothing of that 
pleasing conception shown in his handiwork. In- 
vestigation alone can develop this. The beauty of 
his handiwork is seen only as we trace law in its 
certain windings among particles many times too 
small to be seen by the most powerful glass, and as 
we find it binding with a powerful grip those invis- 
ible atoms, making a compound differing from the 
elements composing it. The atoms cling with great 
force, while the molecules move among each other 
with greater freedom than any liquid. "In order to 
decompose carbonic acid in our laboratories we are 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 151 

obliged to resort to the most powerful chemical 
agents and to conduct this process in vessels com- 
posed of the most resisting metals, under all the vio- 
lent manifestations of light and heat, and we suc- 
ceed in liberating the carbon only by shutting up the 
oxygen in a still stronger prison; but under the quiet 
influences of the sunbeam, and in that most delicate 
of all structures, a vegetable cell, the chains which 
unite together the two elements fall off, and, while 
the solid carbon is retained to build up the organic 
structure, the oxygen is allowed to return to its 
home in the atmosphere. There is not in the whole 
range of chemistry a process more wonderful than 
this. We return to it again and again with ever- 
increasing wonder and admiration, amazed at the 
apparent inefficiency of the means and the stupen- 
dous magnitude of the result. When standing be- 
fore a grand conflagration, witnessing the display of 
mighty energies there in action, and seeing the ele- 
ments rush into combination with a force which no 
human as>encv can withstand, does it seem as if anv 
power could undo that work of destruction and re- 
build those beams and rafters which are disappear- 
ing in the flames? Yet in a few years they will be 
rebuilt. This mighty force will overcome. Not, 
however, as we might expect, amidst the convulsions 
of nature or the clashing of elements, but silently, in 
a delicate leaf waving in the sunshine." (Cook.) 
The starry worlds preach his glory, obedience to law. 
The delicacy of his handiwork is seen as we trace 
this law through the unstable, invisible air, like 
strange, sweet visions that steal upon us in peaceful, 
half-sleeping dreams. The physical senses compre- 



152 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

hend nothing in all the firmament, but perception 
sees law enthroned on each of its atoms. . "The law 
of the Lord is perfect." What law? The law of the 
air. 

The knowledge to be gained in the following part 
of this discussion is, more strictly speaking, a word 
interpretation than all the other questions we have 
been pleased to investigate. The word is weighed 
from inarticulation to the boundless variety of lan- 
guages; its growth from the inarticulate on through 
the various combinations of letters to make words, 
the combinations of these words to make sentences, 
the combinations of sentences to make a book. In 
the other balance we place the smallest particle of 
matter as built up by the atoms, from a combination 
of these particles to the various substances, from a 
combination of substances to a world. More, there 
is beyond this fitting comparison an interphilosoph- 
ical meaning of motion, force, and weight, and a 
proportion as truly correct as is that given by New- 
ton's great law. The words that have these pecul- 
iar meanings are voice, speech, words, language, and 
line. No intelligible interpretation of our text can 
be given if we neglect or fail to observe closely the 
dependent relation of each to each and the one (the 
vocal or written) to the other (the material). If 
these are properly weighed and considered, then no 
words in our language are more fruitful or present 
a higher proof of David's inspiration than the selec- 
tion of these terms. 

"Day unto day uttereth speech." In our first top- 
ic we heard with intellectual ears the declarations 
of glory as they fall from the ever-exhorting stars 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 153 

above us. In our second topic we saw with intel- 
lectual eyes the work of the very hand that wrought 
all these. Now we are brought into communion 
with talking things around us, things that talk with- 
out ceasing. Our ears and eyes are the open ave- 
nues that bring to us material from which we make 
all our deductions. "Day unto day" — without ces- 
sation; no place is without it; unlimited as to time 
or space. It is true that the earth has its habitable 
and its uninhabitable parts, yet everywhere alike 
these utterances go on. Its utterance is speech. If 
faith comes by hearing, and if by faith we know how 
the worlds were framed, put together, then these 
daily sermons, utterances of speech, will impart to 
us this faith, and we shall see how the worlds were 
framed, put together. It is the utterance of inani- 
mate things to inanimate things that we hear; or, 
more truly, the utterances of material to material; 
for these are the things we see, that utter — the 
speech of matter. "Day unto day." Light develops 
it. It is not addressed to the ear, for this organ is 
as acute by night as by day. It is a speech to be 
seen by intellectual eyes, or we hear it with intellec- 
tual ears. We hear it as definitely when we see it 
so unmistakably as we would should it fall in thun- 
der peals from every material object beneath, above, 
around us. Speech to these silent objects is just 
what it is to man. It makes man more distin- 
guished than all other animals. It is the center of 
the social, the political, the financial, and the moral 
world. It is the enervating force that gives life to 
every enterprise, that draws us together in our every 
relation to each other. It binds us to one common 



154 TEE PLUMB-LINE. 

center of thought; it gives permanence to every 
thought. It is the medium of direct communication. 
Speech is the same with every nation and tribe on 
the globe. There are said to be about eighty lan- 
guages and over three thousand dialects; yet to all 
these alike speech is the one common needful thing, 
emanating from the same cause, produced in the 
same manner, to answer the same end: to make the 
world of man one as a grand whole, composed of 
families distinguished by language. So to matter 
it is the one common thing, from the smallest parti- 
cle to the grandest system. It is that which makes 
the world of matter a unit, one grand whole com- 
posed of boundless materials, distinguished by mat- 
ter's language. The story never ends; it goes forth 
in one universal symbol, "speech," that needs only 
to be converted into words and a language to indi- 
vidualize it, to readily interpret it. Speech is a rep- 
resentative term; from it every language springs. 
Speech is the representative force of matter, gravi- 
tation; from it every communicable force in matter 
springs. Gravitation is speech; its utterances never 
cease. It is matter's tongue, and is found where and 
only where matter is found. Matter in its composi- 
tion, its molecular structure, may differ; but only, 
and precisely only, as one language differs from an- 
other. Their peculiar structure alone makes them 
differ, as the peculiar structure of speech makes lan- 
guages differ. These structures, either in matter or 
language, are brought to a common level; the one by 
universal gravitation, the other by universal speech. 
"Day unto day utteretlr speech." There is never a 
day that we fail to hear this speech; it is gravity. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 155 

gravity, gravity. It invests everything. Walking 
is the process of falling, and falling is the yielding to 
the influence of gravity. Proverbs vi. 13 : " He speak- 
eth with his feet." Every time the foot falls its 
speech is gravity. This force brings to the ground 
all unsupported bodies. The falling leaves speak 
it in terms too plain to be misunderstood. We hear 
it in the drifting snow and the pattering rain. All 
matter is influenced by it, is tilled with it. We see it 
everywhere, in everything. There is not one single 
hour of any day of any year that we fail to hear this 
speech. It is without question the speech that came 
to Galileo sitting in the cathedral at Pisa watch- 
ing the vibrations of a bronze chandelier which hung 
from the ceiling. It was gravity as seen in falling 
bodies and in the motions of the pendulum. A fall- 
ing apple whispered "gravity" in the ear of Newton.. 
His soul caught the philosophic fire, which gave him 
the sublime music of the spheres and enabled him to 
write in its own tongue its own law. "Every parti- 
cle of matter in the universe attracts every other par- 
ticle of matter with a force directly proportional to 
its quantity of matter and decreasing as the square 
of the distance apart increases." The moving chan- 
delier and the falling apple thus talking to the earth 
were the parents of great laws. Day unto day the 
schoolroom doors stand open, and these object- 
lessons are continually being {presented as inanimate 
things speak to each other. It is the speech of the 
dumb, truly one of signs. Through these signs we 
acquaint ourselves with all matter, and thus we see 
only beauty and harmony as told by the uncon- 
scious speaking of objects around us. These do the 



156 THE PLUJMB-LIKE. 

same thing everywhere, every time, under the same 
surroundings. There is no variation. "The law of 
the Lord is perfect.' ' 

" Night unto night showeth knowledge." "Show- 
eth," as in a preceding topic, signifies investigation. 
Every night since the fourth day of creation has 
opened above the book of knowledge. The fact that 
the world by its night watchings did glean here its 
richest fund of human knowledge is strong proof of 
prophetic breathing on the Psalmist, and even lends 
credence to our feeble interpretation. The progress- 
ive steps in each are similar. Galileo saw the mo- 
tions of the lamp — to him a speech. The next step 
was to get knowledge out of this. Newton saw the 
apple fall — to him a speech; now he wants knowl- 
edge. So each alike rushed to the same field, that 
field which night alone opens, presenting the high 
authority of satellites, planets, suns, and systems. 
Alike each sought an interpretation first from the 
moon; then alike each passed to the other heavenly 
bcdies, calculating and testing their orbits night 
unto night. For seventeen years Kepler watched 
the planet Mars in its night marches till it showed 
him, astronomers say, the richest fund of human 
knowledge, and he is accredited the highest achieve- 
ments of the human mind. David pointed out the 
great field where knowledge is kept on free public ex- 
hibition. Strange to say, not a man looked for three 
thousand years. Stranger still, when one did look, 
in his search he followed the order as laid down by 
David, and developed the same laws as the ones here 
spoken of. Still, every night, these object-lessons, 
this panoramic show, appear in the blue vault. As 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 157 

one picture files out another dances on the canvas, 
bidding us get knowledge, get knowledge. Great 
minds obeyed; with strong arms they swept away 
the mystery that had shrouded the stars. They 
heard the speech, the song which the stars have 
been singing since the first dawn, when the morning 
stars began this song (speech) and all the suns of 
God raised their shouts of joy : " Glory ! glory ! glory !" 
All matter is full of sublime music tuned to catch 
our ears, feeding our intellectual selves with the 
richest feasts of knowledge and pouring into our in- 
ward selves the glory of an infinite God who wrought 
all these things for the children of men. "The law 
of the Lord is perfect." 

"There is no speech nor language where their voice 
is not heard." Now we are confronted with three of 
the terms mentioned above. There must be some 
common connection between the terms expressing 
our knowledge and the visible acts of all matter from 
which this knowledge is gained. Scientists say that 
we are to study ourselves by the same methods that 
we study other phenomena of nature. They have 
demonstrated that living beings are not aliens and 
exceptions in the universe, but parts of a wonderful 
plan. Gravitation makes the world a unit; it is 
matter's speech that enables particle to talk to par- 
ticle within our physical organisms just as particles 
do in the world without. This brings a closer com 
nection between us and the outer world and aids our 
comprehensions perhaps to understand their won- 
derful doings. The outside world, by an ingenious 
lense, which is composed of particles of matter, fo- 
cuses all these visible objects on the retina, which, 



158 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

too, is of the focusing material; here the living eye 
reads. The living wall that holds this eye has just 
what other matter has: light, heat, weight, motion, 
etc.; all of which are governed by the same laws 
that govern particles of matter outside of us. The 
body is common property of the physical, the moral, 
and intellectual forces. The relation of these forces 
is very similar to that of husband and wife, as 
they live in the same house. Every conception is 
an heir of its mother, the physical force, fathered by 
intellectuality. Man was made a little lower than 
the angels. When we consider that the matter which 
composes his made parts is endued with living and 
immortal forces that meet his high, living, immortal, 
and angelic forces in organized matter, we justly 
comprehend the term "a little lower than the angels. 1 ' 
Could he not be brought in contact with these by and 
through the body, then he would have been made a 
vast deal lower than the angels. Through kinship 
of my material self with all matter* and my kin- 
ship with angels I commune with the smallest in- 
visible atom or with suns too remote to present a 
discernible disk through the most powerful glass. 
It is from the behavior of the objects we see that 
we deduce the laws that govern them. These things 
only, make all human learning. The behavior of 
matter is its language. I understand just in propor- 
tion to my ability to interpret matter's doings. I see 
a stone fall to the ground, and I ask: "What did 
you say, Mr. Stone?" "Gravity," says the stone. 
This is its speech. Every body that falls, and every 
body that would fall were it not prevented, would 

" x " See note at close of this chapter. 



THE PLUME-LINE. 159 

say precisely the same thing. Gravity! How strange 
that this word was selected to denote that force 
which produces this downward tendency seen in all 
things! To-day our authors can not assign a reason 
why so called. It is only a speech. Then accept it 
from David as a prophecy for the name of that uni- 
versal force called gravity. "There is no speech nor 
language where their voice is not heard." There is 
no gravity nor cohesion where there is no matter. 
Then there is a speech and a language wherever mat- 
ter does exist. Matter not only talks to matter, 
but a world in our sight communicates to our powers 
tidings from one beyond our vision; we have proof 
of this divine telegraphy and its correct interpreta- 
tion. Perturbations in the planet Uranus led to the 
discovery of Neptune. Herschel made this an- 
nouncement touching this matter: "Trembling mo- 
tions have been felt along the far-reaching line of 
our analysis, with a certainty not far inferior to oc- 
ular demonstration." The problem that followed 
was this: "Given the disturbance produced by the at- 
traction of the unknown planet, to find its orbit and 
its place in the orbit." Two young mathematicians 
(Le Verrier, of Paris, and Adams, of Cambridge, Eng- 
land) undertook, each unknown to the other, to find 
by figures the place of this new planet. The disturb 
ances in Uranus were observed at a distance of one 
billion, seven hundred and fifty-four million miles 
from the earth; while the planet talking to Uranus 
was a billion miles beyond. Le Verrier, having only 
the characters of this communication as given to 
Uranus, returned to Paris, figured out its place in its 
orbit and the time of its coming. Astronomers, hav- 



ICO THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ing faith in Ms prophecy, were wart eking for the new 
planet when it came into sight. We are akin. Force 
— the living spirit of matter born of the spirit that 
moved upon the face of the waiters and filled and 
sent six worlds full of life on their mission of life — 
was the same that breathed into man the breath 
of life and made him a living soul. Now, as the 
whole is based upon the relation that these terms 
bear to each other and the conformity of relations 
of the forces of matter to each other and of these 
terms to these forces, we will try to explain here. 
The terms voice, speech, words, language, line, in the 
spoken or written word are absolutely dependent 
upon the above order; that which follows depends 
every time on that which precedes; not more so to 
the make-up of a speech or a sermon than certain 
forces do to the make-up of a world or the boundless 
systems of worlds and suns. These forces are affin- 
itj, molecular attraction, adhesion, universal attrac- 
tion. The written word and the visible world pre- 
sent a striking similarity in their formation. The 
relations of the separate parts of the written word 
are the relations that the parts of the visible world 
or worlds sustain to each other. The alphabet of the 
written word is only visible signs of invisible sounds, 
which alone, with a few exceptions, do not material- 
ize. They only do so when united in conformity to 
a law of likes and unlikes, with reference only to 
their vocalization — that is, every syllable must have 
a vowel or vowels, and may have one or more conso- 
nants; then each syllable must have a vowel and a 
consonant, excluding the exceptions mentioned 
above. The story of Cadmus introducing letters is 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 161 

the story of the chemist's atoms; these are matter's 
alphabet. There are known sixty-six of these matter 
letters. These atoms are invisible, and are only 
manifest by the things that we see around us. So 
the things that we see are signs of invisible atoms. 
We said that our letters were signs of invisible 
sounds that only materialize when united into a 
word. The same is true of the matter alphabet; 
we see the sign of their existence only when joined 
together. Our written word is made up of vowels 
and consonants, unlike in vocalization. In the chem- 
ical gradation of effects of affinity things most alike 
are most feebly attracted, while the wider the differ- 
ence the stronger the affinity. Vowels and conso- 
nants, being unlike, must be combined according to 
the law of unlikes to make strong the word. So the 
law that unites letters to make words is the divine 
orthography of matter. This is affinity. The small- 
est particle of matter is framed of atoms as a word 
of letters. In the former we have a molecule of 
matter; in the latter, a molecule of a language. It 
thus rises to a system or a great book. To illustrate, 
I take the smallest particle of salt that can exist 
alone. I am told that it is composed of two atoms 
(letters), chlorin and sodium, mechanically joined as 
are the two letters in the word no. The word no 
does not look like n or o, nor is the pronunciation of 
no the pronunciation n or o. When separated they 
are only meaningless sounds. The very second they 
are thus joined all the English-speaking world says 
"no." This word has its place in the make-up of our 
communications, and is as potent as a molecule of 
matter in a substance. Let us join these two letters 
11 



1C2 THE TLUME-LINE. 

otherwise and we have on. We have the same let- 
ters as before. The pronunciation of these letters 
individually is the same; combined, the pronuncia- 
tion is widely different and has a meaning quite as 
foreign. The way letters are united to make words 
helps to make in part the variety of words that form 
our vocabulary. The same is true in combining 
atoms to make matter words. For a long time if 
two substances of different properties were found, 
upon analysis, to have one composition, it was held 
that the experimenter must have erred. But so con- 
stant and increasing were such results as at length 
to establish the fact that bodies of the same compo- 
sition may still have different properties. For this 
reason such bodies are termed isomeric. For exam- 
ple, the fragrant oil of roses and the chief illumi- 
nating constituent of common street gas are iso- 
meric: a compound atom of each consists of four 
atoms of carbon and four of hydrogen. To explain 
this we are compelled to assume that the constituent 
atoms of a compound may have different arrange- 
ments. The same atoms which if grouped in one way 
give rise to one substance, if grouped in another way 
give rise to a different substance. Then the things 
that we see are not composed of the things that do 
appear. The apostle Paul was not unmindful of this 
truth in a philosophical sense. Hebrews xi. 3: 
"Through faith we understand that the worlds were 
framed by the word of God, so that things which are 
seen were not made of things which do appear." 
Faith was the glass through which Paul saw and 
understood that worlds are the framed work of God 
to the word, authority, pattern, or model. Frame 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 1G3 

means just what we are talking about: putting things 
in a regular structure. We thank the great apostle 
for his enlargement. Worlds, all, are put together 
this way; not chemically mixed, put together, framed. 
There can be no more a chemical mixture of atoms 
to form a substance than a chemical mixture of let- 
ters to form an English word. Now the thing that 
did this work of framing worlds we said was ivord 
and a model. As such atom joined atom, molecule 
joined molecule, bulk to bulk, world to world, sys- 
tem to system, heaven to heaven, by word, the di- 
rect product of voice, speech, words, language, sym- 
bolical of affinity, gravity, cohesion, and adhesion. 
Similarly the law of construction or synthesis that 
unites words into sentences is the divine grammar 
seen in the united molecules that make a substance. 
The law of arrangement of topics in a great dis- 
course finds its parallel in the logical arrangement 
of the boundless substances that make the world a 
unit. The line upon which the least letter in a book 
stands is the same line upon which every word, every 
sentence, every topic that makes the book stands, 
and is similar to that upon which every particle of 
matter, every substance, the combination of sub- 
stances, the world, all the worlds, stand. 

All the chemists, all the philosophers, during all 
the ages will never move these corner-stones; they 
may learn more of these things and build higher, add 
decoration to decoration as they find God here, there, 
everywhere, as their eyes turn to his visible crea- 
tions. The world will improve our feeble interpre- 
tation, but Paul's atomic theory never. He offered 
in this the provisions that will feed through an end- 



164 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

less life. Manifestations of his inspiration in the 
very offer are seen in his ability to know how the 
worlds were framed. Without doubt the world is 
forced to accept the physical truths offered by him. 
How, then, can it reject the proffers of life? The 
former will abide till general ruin dissolves the 
framed elements; the latter will be no odder when 
this event takes place. So we live in a world of deaf- 
mutes having voice, speech, language as communi- 
cable as the lettered sheets that hold to view our 
harvests of learning as gathered from these. They 
tell their stories in signs, they are perpetuated only 
in signs. This pantomime goes on wherever matter 
exists. Man tells in signs all their doings, then 
studies his signs that he may know the make-up of 
the bodies of the players. 

Let us look to the spoken word. This is invisible, 
yet audible, and thus finds a comparison in nature's 
vocalizing forces, which are also invisible. Let us 
pair these as we design comparing them. Voice, 
affinity, speech, gravity, language, cohesion; lan- 
guages, adhesion. The written word and visible 
world may in their separate make-up be paired thus : 
Letters, atoms; words composed of letters, molecules 
composed of atoms. Sentences are built up by let- 
ters being joined to make words and words to form 
sentences; a substance is built up by atoms uniting 
to form a molecule and these molecules united to 
form a substance. A language is a peculiar mode 
of communication belonging to the same tongue; a 
substance is a separate and a distinct kind of matter. 
All our languages combined make our speaking or 
writing world; all the substances combined make 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 1G5 

our matter world. Thus the book of nature was 
compiled and sent on its mission; thus "the heavens 
declare the glory of God." These show the wisdom 
of a great Logician and make plain his exegesis. 

"There is no speech nor language, where their 
voice is not heard." There is no gravity nor cohesion 
where there is no affinity. There is no weight, no 
substance, where there are no atoms. Without voice 
there can be no speech; without speech there can 
be no language. The atom is the parent of all mat- 
ter; without it no<ne of the things we see could be. 

As we said, it is their boundless combinations that 
fill space with both matter and motion, both of 
which spring into life when atoms come together. 
See here are two separate atoms, letters ; they come 
together, producing the first element of matter or 
the first element of speech. Affinity is matter's 
voice. Language, cohesion, makes bulks of likes; 
this gives us the various substances that make the 
world. Those who speak the same tongue are said 
to have the same language. Languages differ as 
substances differ. Some substances are noted for 
strength; others, for weakness. The same is true 
with the languages. Draw the comparison where 
you will, and the same similarity is found. While 
looking at the material the philosopher sees the 
forces that make a substance. These are attractive 
forces from the first, and these forces are measured 
by the substance. We see, too, it is attractive forces 
that make special connm unities and hold them to one 
and the same language. A repellent force breaks 
up substances, and may even destroy the language. 
Repellent forces may break up a community and de- 



166 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

stroy a language. The Celts and Babel offer high 
examples. This is cohesion ; we study it as we study 
a language. Position, surroundings, and contact 
make the different substances; so position, surround- 
ing, and contact make the various languages. To 
man speech is universal, based on voice; voice is the 
material of which speech is made. To matter grav- 
ity is universal, based on affinity; language is lo- 
cal, cohesion is local. Where there is no voice there 
is no speech nor language; where there is no affinity 
there is no weight, no attraction. If there is a spot 
in space where matter does not exist, then there is 
no voice, no speech, no language. It teaches that 
there is no reciprocity between a void and a world 
or a void and even the smallest particle of matter. 

"Their line is gone out through all the earth, and 
their words to the end of the world." "Their line." 
Whose line is this that has gone out through all the 
earth? Speech and language. Gone out through 
all the earth, every particle. To go out through 
every particle — no possible hypothesis other than to 
assume the earth a sphere will satisfy this state- 
ment. More, this influence must be conceived as be- 
ginning at the center. If it does not begin at the 
center, or if the earth is not round, the influence 
would in some parts go in before it could go out. 
The center of the globe is the only possible starting- 
point froim which this line could go out through 
every particle. It goes out as sound in spheres. 

"Line." In the previous pages, when we talked 
of the make-up of matter and written language, we 
placed the written words on lines ruled on the paper. 
If in print these words are placed in line just the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 167 

same, these lines are to direct the operation. So 
from the center outward these lines run till every 
particle stands upon a line. These go to the end of 
the world. This takes in the whole system of cre- 
ated globes, the universe. Let us compare with 
Newton as we advance: "Every particle of matter in 
the universe attracts every other particle of matter." 
If we consider these lines in connection with these 
forces, it becomes the measuring instrument, as size 
and distance apart vary the influence. 

In speaking of the attractive force Mr. Steele says : 
"It may help us to conceive how the earth is sup- 
ported if we imagine the sun letting down a huge 
cable (line) and every star in the heavens a tiny 
thread (line) to hold our globe in its place; while it 
in turn sends back a cable (line) to the sun and a 
thread (line) to every one of the stars. So we are 
bound to them (by lines) and they to us (by lines). 
Thus the worlds throughout space are linked to- 
gether by these cords (lines), mutual attraction, 
which, interweaving in every direction, make the 
world a unit." Then their line, cable cord, thread, 
is gone out through all the earth and their words to 
the end of the world, and a mutual attraction estab- 
lished with all the stars. "Every particle of matter 
in the universe attracts every other particle." We 
defined "word" as signifying the smallest particle of 
matter that could exist alone. 

"Amd their words to the end of the world." Whose 
words? Speech and language. We awarded to lan- 
guage the thought of substance as manifested by co- 
hesion. If we extend it beyond the earth, it becomes 
general and symbolizes a system. The lesson teaches 



168 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that all matter in the universe is built up in the same 
way and governed by the same laws. "Words go- 1 
as sound travels. Speech influences by word-travel- 
ing or influences as sound from a line or cord. The 
pitch of the fundamental sound of a musical string- 
is found by experience to depend on three circum- 
stances: the length of the line or string, its tension, 
and the weight or quantity of matter in the string. 
Three things influence gravity (speech). To illus- 
trate, the diameter of Venus is a thousand miles 
shorter than the diameter of the earth. The volume 
of Venus is about four-fifths that of the earth, while 
its density is about the same. A pound weight car- 
ried from the earth's equator to the equator of Venus 
would weigh abont five-sixths of a pound. This 
shows that the force of gravity does not decrease ex- 
actly in proportion to the size of the planet any 
more than it increases with the mass of the sun. 
The reason of this is that the body is brought nearer 
the mass of the small planet, and so feels its attrac- 
tion more fully than when far out upon the extreme 
circumference of a large body. The attraction in- 
creases as the square of the distance froni the par- 
ticles (words) decreases. Then the three things upon 
which gravity depends are distance, mass, and 
weight. Distance apart to the length of the cord; 
density to the tension of the cord, and weight of 
body to weight of cord; to the cord as its weight 
varies with its density so the pitch of that cord va- 
ries. Let us suppose A and B two bodies in space. 
Let us connect these bodies by two cords; that the 
weight of one cord represent the weight of A, while 
the density of that cord be the density of A, and the 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 169 

other cord represent the weight of B and the density 
of this cord be the density of B. The one repre- 
sents the force of gravity of A for B, and the other 
the force of gravity of B for A. If the force exer- 
cised between these two bodies is directly as the prod- 
uct of their masses, so the pitch of the two sounds 
produced by these two cords must be to each other 
as the product of their masses. These strings were 
of the same length, varying only in tension. If this 
be true, the pitch from these cords would vary as w T e 
move A and B toward or from each other. The in- 
tensity of sound decreases as the square of the dis- 
tance increases. The force of gravity decreases as 
the square of the distance increases. So with the 
lengthening or shortening of the musical cord. 
"Every particle of matter in the universe attracts 
every other particle of matter with a force di- 
rectly proportional to its quantity of matter and 
decreasing as the square of the distance increases." 
Newton made the attraction between particles. 
We said that "word" was made of atom letters, 
and was the smallest particle of language. These, 
in one sense, go to the end of the world — that 
is, all matter in the universe is built up in the 
same way. If you would know how, begin with 
our alphabet, and a few months of study will teach 
you. Worlds are framed just as books are written. 
"Words to the end of the world." Words, we have 
shown, are the particles, the smallest particles, of 
matter that can exist alone. The word is the first 
and smallest particle of a language. The attract- 
ive influence begins in the least particle; affinity 
drew even before it was a particle. So potent is the 



170 THE TLUMB-LINE. 

term that it was made flesh, and dwelt among us. 
It is now to the letter gently drawing the world, 
guiding the thoughts and acts of live hundred mil- 
lions of souls. As gravity guides and leads suns 
and systems, so this Word is leading Heaven-directed 
galleys to destinations sure and certain. God's love 
in this way went out to us in periods too remote. 
Affinity is love, cohesion is love, gravity is that tend- 
ency of matter to come together center to center, 
heart to heart. This is love, illimitable love. These 
make the world a unit. Now we see how God loves. 
He has named the forces that do all things by terms 
as sweet as any known to us in this world. Words 
give potency and permanence to thought, this they 
do for us socially; in a similar manner the matter 
word does for matter. The influence of words writ- 
ten or spoken makes men and even nations what they 
are; they hold each in place. These create navies, 
call out armies, demolish thrones, set up republics. 
These give to a nation's currency its value, build 
railways, build jails and penitentiaries, lead to the 
scaffold, and loose the drop under the gallows. 
These were the swords of priests and prophets. 
These lead to atheism and succor infidelity. How 
potent are these things that go to the end of the 
world! They have in them the link that holds 
matter to matter, the link that holds man to 
God, God to man. Let us see Psalm lxxviii. 69: 
"And he built his sanctuary like high palaces, like 
the earth which he hath established forever." Just, 
as the earth is built up, the same thing that makes it 
abiding supports his sanctuary. The law of material 
love as expressed by their names makes the earth 



THE PLUMB-LIKE. 171 

durable. The law of love is the support of Ms sanc- 
tuary. 

"Their words to the end of the world." Earthly 
matter talks to the matter of Mars, particle to parti- 
cle, as the most enlightened English talk to each 
other word by word. The widely severed particles, 
having the same voice, the same speech, the same 
language, hold close and sweet communion. These 
two planets, we are told, had the same origin, are 
composed of the same material, possess the same 
motions, look to the same center for light and heat, 
are Shaped alike. The earth has one moon; Mars, to 
compensate for its greater distance, has two. Their 
years, seasons, days, and nights are alike, differing in 
length and light and temperature. All things tell 
us that the same forces that are doing work here are 
busy there doing likewise. Then we conclude that 
there was a time in the history of Mars when it was 
said: "Let there be light; let there be a firmament; 
let the w r aters be gathered together in one place; 
let Mars bring forth grass; let there be lights; 
let the waters bring forth abundantly; let Mars 
bring forth the living creature;" and finally, "Let us 
make man." Seven of these commands were direct- 
ed to the forces that had hitherto stood in the way 
and had prevented all these on the earth. "Let us 
make man" implies a consultation with predeter- 
mined purpose to do so. "Let us make man after 
our likeness." Immediately after he is made, God 
talks with him. He names all the animals. Speech 
to him is as natural as is the speech of matter; lan- 
guage to him is as natural as is the language of mat- 
ter. He was created by talking beings to be like 



172 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

these same talking beings. Speech can be no more 
an acquisition than is the sense of sigiit. The bless- 
ing that fell so early on him would have been as un- 
intelligible to him as to the trees in the garden had 
he not been a talking man from the moment circula- 
tion was established and it was announced that 
"man became a living soul." 

What language was used? Certainly the same 
language that had said: "Let us make man." Mat- 
ter had a first, a universal language. Matter was 
obedient, and maintained it; man was disobedient, 
and his was confused. Is it not imaginable that one 
universal language went to all the worlds that are 
inhabited by this high order of intelligences? God 
made all things alike in so many respects. The 
truth of a triune Grod on earth would make him so 
on Mars. He endowed matter with a silent speech; 
this enables earth to talk to Mars. It is believed 
that the inhabitants of Mars are trying to commu- 
nicate with the inhabitants of the earth. Should the 
time ever come that these two worlds converse with 
each other, it will be through the medium of our 
primitive language. Let us return. 

How nicely do these high moral influences that go 
out in words from one common center, Jesus Christ, 
the Word made flesh, illustrate those influences that 
go out from every center! These words, the make- 
up of matter, go out in words as force. We said thai: 
we were akin to the earth and akin to the stars, 
composed of like material, which is under the same 
law as that which controls the matter that makes 
the most distant star in space. So we have traced 
the kinship of the better forces of our higher nature 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 173 

with the forces that govern matter. These forces, 
physical and spiritual, hover over, around, and in 
us, crowning us with an immortality as endless as 
the law of light or motion, as endless as that given to 
matter and force by physicists. 

' k In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." 
In what is the sun's tabernacle set? In those lines, 
speech and language; the line of gravity and attrac- 
tion. The sun's cable and the earth's line, mutual 
attraction. The sun's tabernacle stands on these; 
all the matter that makes the solar system, that 
makes all the systems, stands upon a line as the 
words of every book. This is no other than the line 
mentioned to Job, upon which the foundations of the 
earth were fastened, and the one that filled the en- 
raptured vision of the inspired singer. Not the sun 
only, but his tabernacle is set in these lines and 
words. A tabernacle is a movable tent. Among 
the Jews a tabernacle was a movable building, so 
constructed as to be taken to pieces with ease and 
reconstructed, for the convenience of being carried 
during the wanderings of the Israelites in the wil- 
derness. This is taken as a figure, an object-lesson, 
teaching the motions and the forces, and the manner 
of these motions and the distribution of these forces 
that carry our system as one building, a unit, or as in 
dividuals, comrades, on a great sidereal journey. 
The taking of it to pieces implies a separation of its 
parts. With ease shows an adaptability, a fitness 
of parts. To be reconstructed implies a bringing 
together of its parts. For convenience of being car- 
ried on the journey fits it to an economy of the carry- 
ing forces which move it. Taking it apart and re- 



174 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

constructing it most beautifully illustrates plan- 
etary aphelion and perihelion distances. In aphe- 
lion they are at their greatest distance's from the 
central orb or sun, and may then be said to be taken 
apart. In perihelion they are nearest the sun, and 
may be said to be reconstructed. But it is taken 
apart for convenience of being carried. Now, if the 
force of gravity as given in our law decreases as the 
square of the distance increases, then less force is 
required or exerted to carry these aphelion planets 
along the journey than when closer together, in per- 
ihelion. "The law of the Lord is perfect." 

"Which [sun] is as a bridegroom coming out of 
his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a 
race." The idea of the text is readily developed by 
a true grammatical arrangement. "Which" refers 
to the sun. The sun as a bridegroom coming out of 
his chamber rejoiceth to run a race as a strong man 
rejoiceth to run a race. Here we have two compar- 
isons. The sun is compared to a bridegroom coming 
out of his chamber, and his rejoicing to run a race is 
like the rejoicing of a strong man to run a race. 
These two comparisons illustrate two thoughts: 
those attractive forces of which we have been speak- 
ing and the motion of the sun along a course. "As 
a bridegroom coining out of his chamber." At; first 
we are astonished at his magnificence, his grandeur, 
and the number of his train, which, if truly illus- 
trated by the number of pieces that composed the 
tabernacle, must be great. The bridegroom must be 
the center of attraction for the train that attends 
him. The thought of harmony adds grandeur to the 
spectacle. See him as he rises, full of manhood, full 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 175 

of vigor, full of life, full of motion. Bridegroom — 
a man about to be married. 

As are those dulcet sounds in break of day 
That creep into the dreaming bridegroom's ear 
And summon him to marriage. 

I ike a bridegroom, filled and enthused with a sweet 
influence that binds him to his affianced, be rejoic- 
eth, is happy in the consciousness that be is the re- 
cipient of her first, ber highest love. These sustain 
and hold him on his course. "As a strong man." In 
the figure bis strength, the very thing of which we 
are talking, was not overlooked — an attractive 
strength. The sun is a great central globe, so vast 
as to overcome the attraction of all the planets and 
compel them to circle around him. How nicely is 
the law of attraction illustrated by the law of love! 
That is its name. He is the king of day; is to shod 
light and warmth upon his bride; to support and 
cherish her; to lead on, hand in hand or line to line, 
word to word, through the course of a continuous 
life. 

"His going forth is from the end of the heaven, 
and his circuit unto the ends of it." Heaven as used 
in the Bible is susceptible of three interpretations 
and only three: region of the air or firmament, home 
of the blessed, the solar system or space occupied by 
it and through which it moves. Genesis i. 1: "In 
the beginning God created the heaven and the 
earth." The solar system was one and the same cre- 
ation. See the position of the two great lights. Gen 
esis i. 17: "And God set them in the firmament of the 
heaven to give light upon the earth." Now these 
great lights were set in the bounds occupied by the 



17G THE PLUMB-LINE. 

solar system, Deuteronomy xvii. 3 : "And hath gone 
and served other gods, and worshiped them, either 
the sun, or moon, or any of the host of heaven." 
Here seems to be a double meaning: first, that the 
sun and mooin are situated within the bounds of 
heaven, solar system, and the hosts that live in the 
aerial heaven. Deuteronomy iv, 19: "And lest thou 
lift up thine eyes unto heaven, and when thou seest 
the sun, and the moon, and the stars, even all the 
host of heaven, shouldest be driven to worship them., 
and serve them, which the Lord thy God hath divi- 
ded unto all nations under the whole heaven." This 
gives light. The host here, as above, refers to all 
animals under the aerial heaven, the hosts that are 
"divided unto all nations." This is to cover all an- 
imal worship, whether of the frigid or torrid zone. 
Isaiah xiv. 12: "How art thou fallen from heaven, O 
Lucifer, son of the morning! " This is figurative, 
The planet Venus, on account of its brightness, was 
called Lucifer. Its position was in the heaven, the 
bound of the solar system, and it is one of the stars 
mentioned in Deuteronomy iv. 19. Amos ix. 6: "It 
is he that buildeth his stories in the heaven, and 
hath founded his troop in the earth; he that calleth 
for the waters of the sea, and poureth them out upon 
the face of the earth: The Lord is his name." The 
marginal reading for "stories" is "spheres." If our 
rendering of heaven be just, then we would say that 
he made the ether spheres of our system. We have 
never seen one single passage that conflicts with this 
mode of determining the meaning of heaven. If we 
are wrong in our opinion that reference is here made 
to the solar system, still the clause "It is he that 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 177 

buildeth his stories in the heaven'' was surely mean- 
ingless to the world for two thousand years or more, 
and was to Amos a sweet kiss from inspiration. 

"His going forth is from the end of the heaven, 
and his circuit to the ends of it." The sun, like all 
the other stars, is in motion. David says that his 
course is a circuit which extends from the end to the 
ends of the space filled by the heaven, solar system. 
Astronomers say that it is sweeping onward with its 
retinue of worlds one hundred and fifty millions of 
miles per year, toward a point in the constellation 
Hercules. The Pleiades are thought to be the cen- 
ter around which this great movement is taking 
place, but the orbit is so vast and the center so re- 
mote that nothing is yet definitely known. Other 
suns are doing just what ours is. Isaiah xl. 26: 
"Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath 
created these things, that bringeth out their host by 
number." When we lift up our eyes by night what 
do we see? Only suns. What are these doing? 
Leading out their host; yes, these mighty suns are 
leading each its host. Astronomers only by analo- 
gy call these suns centers of systems, and by analo- 
gy say that each has its train of planets, satellites, 
meteors, etc. Isaiah says that it is a fact. The only 
means afforded the prophet was that of inspiration. 

Job xxii. 14: "He walketh in the circuit of heav- 
en." Tfae heaven here spoken of is the solar system. 
The sun is the center of this system. The planets re- 
volve about the sun in circular orbits. He walketh 
in this circuit. His walks on Neptune are what they 
are on the earth. His way on Uranus is his way on 
Mars. From planet to planet he walks. Are there 
12 



178 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

things on these' distant planets that can induce him 
to condescend to walk there? He was made flesh 
and walked on earth. Did these disobey? Does he 
walk from place to place on Saturn, going about do- 
ing good? Was there a cross on Jupiter? Why tell 
us that he walketh in this great circuit if the term 
used was not a term for locomotion there as here. 
The great truths that the paths leading to these are 
circular, for each alike, and that the whole combined 
is moving in one great circuit is proof that the Au- 
thor was conversant with enough to make us accept 
all the balance. To hear him call this walk a cir- 
cuit makes us know that his special attention in 
some way is directed to these as to us. 

" From the end of the heaven ... to the ends 
of it." He made it a circuit by statement. He gives 
the starting and the ending, which, coming together 
as ends would, by illustration, also make his orbit 
circular. Science only ventures a thought that the 
Pleiades is a center around which this movement is 
directed. The Bible has held up this doctrine for 
nearly three thousand years. Still the great philos- 
opher says: "The astronomers of our day have dis- 
covered that the sun is not the dead center of mo- 
tion." The astronomers of our day have discovered 
this! O my day! What a rebuke to Bible-readers! 
What a comment on the character of the wise men of 
our day! Bible-readers had not discovered it. Those 
in search of knowledge sought it in other fields. No 
wonder this discovery cost so much; no wonder that 
confusion hovered over and around it till "our day." 
Objections are made to the Bible on the ground that 
it does not accord with science. How can it when 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 179 

many of her theories do not survive our generation? 
The great question of which we have been talking is 
a discovery of the nineteenth century. Let us get 
our science right, then lay it to the science of the 
Bible with all the vehemence of a foe, but fairly. 
Like Gibraltar, it will still overlook the sea with its 
terrible ramparts that no foe can storm. "The law 
of the Lord is perfect." 

"There is nothing hid from the heat thereof." 
Along this sidereal journey the earth makes its rev- 
olution about the sun, day and night alternate till 
each part of its surface has had the same number of 
minutes and hours of light and darkness. Wherever 
ligtht falls heat is ever present. This truth needs no 
further comment than the one found in " hid." Noth- 
ing is concealed, everything brought to the light. 
Then heat is there too. These are supposed to be the 
same. "In all regions outside of the tropics climat- 
ic contrasts are found. At the poles these contrasts 
are at their maximum. The summer of the polar re- 
gions, strange to say, is exceedingly hot." "There is 
nothing hid from the heat thereof." These periods 
of heat at the poles remain for so short a time that 
vegetation, particularly food plants, do not flourish, 
except in very limited amounts, and that of those 
less able to support life. The sun does not take 
hold here — nothing is hid from him. 

"The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the 
soul : the testimony of the Lord is sure, making wise 
the simple." We have shown the perfection of a law. 
The heavens, aerial and ethereal, have borne tes- 
timony; by it the simple are to be made wise. This, 
we stated in the beginning, was purely scientific. It 



180 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

could not refer to the spiritual laws, for the Sermon 
on the Mount had not yet been preached. The phys- 
ical law is perfect, and was so the very day the work 
of creation ended. Whether matter creates force or 
force creates matter, the result is the same; and, the 
work ended, the law is perfect in its operation, full 
and sufficient. The same laws, guiding the same 
forces that held watch over matter the first instant 
after its creation, have never, not one, been amended 
or repealed, nor a single new act passed. The only 
testimony offered is that of the stars, firmament, and 
the sun's tabernacle. How do these things make 
Wise the simple? Could they do so by one idle, emp- 
ty gaze, seeing nothing? Such a look would tend, 
in my opinion, to superstition. Such is the fact at- 
tested by the history of astronomy and sun-worship. 
One makes this statement: "Standing in the light of 
our present knowledge, the ideas of the ancients 
seem almost incredible, and we can hardly compre- 
hend how they could have been seriously enter- 
tained." Anaximenes (530 B.C.) held that the stars 
are ornaments, and that these are nailed to the upper 
sphere as we use breastpins, etc., as ornaments. 
Would that make wise the simple or make the simple 
appear as fools? Anaxagoras (450 B.C.) considered 
that they are sitones whirled up from the earth by the 
rapid ethereal motion around us; that the properties 
of which they are composed took fire and caused 
them to shine as stars. These were individual opin- 
ions, yet they came from the wisest. Grecian phi- 
losophers of many schools, Stoics and Epicureans, 
believed thait they are celestial fires kept alive by 
matter that constantly streams up to them from the 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 181 

center of the heavens. The stars at one time were 
said to feed on air; at another, to be the breathing- 
holes of the universe. These men lived and these 
schools nourished in the days abounding in super- 
stition. These helped to make them so, or from dis- 
torted fancies these were created. Suppose that 
these men could have seen the perfection of the laws 
that control the stars, new skies would have ap- 
peared to them. These ornaments, burning stones, 
celestial fires, these air-eating stars, would have 
gone with their superstition ; the people would have 
become wiser; converted from these, they would 
have lifted their minds and their hearts with every 
upward gaze. Even now, with so much light and 
knowledge, what strange beliefs do we simple hold 
concerning the stars, the firmament, and the sun! 
We believe that the stars are mere specks that shine 
alone by night and are extinguished when day 
comes; or that these, like the sun and moon, rise and 
set in oibedience to motions of their own. Instead of 
comprehending a firmament, we look upon the space 
from the earth to the stars as really empty, a great 
valley in which there is nothing. Nowhere do we see 
the slightest evidences of a handiwork. Our own 
early experience when a child attests this truth. 
When once we see these things as they are, and see 
the perfection in the law as it really is, we are made 
wise. When the perfection of the law and the law 
itself is dispensed from inspired lips, that, too, ante- 
dating any other dispensation of it, how much more 
do we feel and know that there is a God, one per- 
fect in knowledge! The soul is converted and we 
stand upon his testimonies, evidences as seen all 



182 THE PLUMB-LINE, 

around us. " The law of the Lord is perfect." While 
it is not our object to investigate questions purely 
spiritual, we will say, touching the above, that the 
final object is the conversion of the human family. 
When a physical question develops truths asserting 
the existence of a God, that far it is spiritual, and is 
his agent or instrument for that end. There are 
other questions purely spiritual, the srole object of 
which is to lead men directly to Grod. This chapter 
is a beautiful illustration of this fact. There are 
fourteen verses in this chapter. We said that the 
first seven were scientific, purely so ; now we say that 
the last seven are purely spiritual. Seven, you 
know, is a sacred number. First, man is taught 
God's glory through perfect laws, that he is the au- 
thor of all these, that he gets knowledge and be- 
comes in every respect the highest type for the ac- 
ceptance of spiritual laws. No, you are mistaken; 
we did not say that it was necessary for him to be- 
come a philosopher or an astronomer to make him 
ready to accept gospel teachings. He has laid these 
so closely together and has preceded the spiritual 
with the philosophical, impressing us with the opin- 
ion above. 

Let us now review the two laws side by side, and 
then by these place a simplified interpretation of Da- 
vid's law. Where there is no voice (atom) there is 
no speech (gravity) nor language (affinity). Their 
line (speech and language) is gone out through all 
the earth, and their words (influence) to the end of 
the world. In them (words, influence of words) hath 
he set a tabernacle for the sun. 

Newton's law: Every particle of matter (word) in 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 183 

the universe (to the end of the world) attracts every 
other particle of matter (goes throughout all the 
earth to the end of matter) with q, force directly pro- 
portional to its quantity of matter (as the vibrating 
cords are to each other as the product of their 
masses), and decreasing as the square of the dis- 
tance increases (the sound of a cord decreases as the 
square of the distance increases). 

David's law simplified: Where there is no atom 
there is no gravity, no affinity. Wherever matter 
exists there these forces exist. Their influence goes 
throughout all, every particle of the earth, just as 
speech or sound produced from a vibrating cord, de- 
creasing as the square of the distance increases; and 
the intensities of these sounds are to each other as 
the masses or weights of the cords. The sun, to- 
gether with his attendants, is in these influences or 
these lines and cords. These go on decreasing as the 
distance increases and directly as the products of 
the masses of the vibrating cords, on and on to the 
end of the world, to the outpost of matter. In empti- 
ness, darkness, and silence there is no speech (grav- 
ity) nor language (substance) where there is no voice 
(atom). 

How often have we read this Psalm, and as often 
been lifted through all the firmament to the stars, 
feeling each time, after the shock, something strange 
creep over us, imparting a feeling of we know not 
how to explain, then flit away as a shadow, leaving 
us without landmarks or corners to make even an 
intelligible survey, nor could we count one single sol- 
id gain! We read it as we hear the pleasing strains 
from some skilled violinist, without knowing any- 



184: THE PLUMB-LINE. 

thing about the motes before him, the size, length, 
and weight of the cords, or the philosophy of sound 
at all. A sense of profound philosophy comes to us 
through these beautiful declarations that lifts mind 
and heart through hope to an existence as real as 
these constructions are beautiful and sublime. Thus 
the beauty of fiction becomes chaplets of truth. 
Why was this law given in these terms? David 
lived twenty-five hundred years in advance of the 
development of these principles. Then they could 
have no name, for in his time no such forces or in- 
fluences were known, consequently no terms to des- 
ignate them. He seized upon terms as imperishable 
as the forces they name, terms that spring from 
others bearing in themselves meanings which exer- 
cise over the human mind and heart an influence op- 
erating in a way very similar to these then mysterious 
forces. The one is as old as matter, the other as old 
as man and perhaps much older. The former will 
perish only with the extinction of matter ; the latter, 
with an existence no less immortal perhaps, will 
never die. These terms, full and complete, have 
withstood the shock 'of three thousand years with its 
innovation's and diversity of tongues. Their promi- 
nence and absolute necessity alone freed them from 
that general and promiscuous ruin that has followed 
the wheels of time. 

David and Newton. 

Newton, in testing the moon's orbit, finding that 
the result was likely to verify his conjecture, his 
hand faltered With excitement, and he was forced to 
ask a friend to complete the task. What then must 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 185 

have been the emotions that filled the bosom of the 
Psalmist when, without a precedent, he looks and 
sees the solution to the greatest question ever pre- 
sented to tlhe human mind? Newton gave down 
under the consciousness that he was about to devel- 
op a great truth; but he really rewrites a law twenty- 
five hundred years old when he was born, and writes 
it in the stern, rigid, prosy language of a geomet- 
rical demonstration. David sees his result, soars the 
higher, filled with an electric shock from the eternal 
batteries, gives his philosophy the measure of poet- 
ry and the melody of song, the truth of Newton, and 
more, a sublimity unequaled by the songs of Homer, 
unsurpassed by any tongue or pen. Newton, satis- 
fied with his achievement, retires from the heavens, 
leaving the discovery of the sun's motion for the 
dawn of the nineteenth century. David, holding out 
the laws of gravitation and attraction, declares that 
the sun's tabernacle is set in these, swings the whole 
around one common center, reaching from the end 
of the (heaven to the ends of it, till nothing is hid 
from the heat thereof; then winds up these most 
wonderful declarations with, "The law of the Lord 
is perfect," be that law physical or spiritual. 

Note. — All matter is related. It had one common origin; 
compounded from the same formula; had one common parent; 
attended one and the same common school, so was under one 
and the same instructor. To-day, all human learning is but the 
lessons taught by matter. The plant teaches botany ; the earth 
tenches geologv; the beasts teach zoology; the birds, ornithol- 
ogy ; the sun, moon, and stars, astronomy ; the atoms teach chem- 
istry, organic and inorganic. Our bodies, being matter, are re- 
lated to all matter. It had its origin with the first origin of mat- 
ter. It matriculated in the same school, learned the same les- 
sons, studied the same books, is under the same law; and, 
untenanted, will do every time, under the same circumstances 
and the same surroundings, just what any or every other par- 



186 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tide in space will do. It has the ability to teach the above top- 
ics as truly as they. It is to us r.ot so much teacher as interpreter. 
The nervous system is that part of our physical organism through 
which the mind receives its intercourse with the external world. 
The five senses are supported by five silver cords, telegraphic 
wires, having the central office within; while each has its for- 
eign office on the confines of the self world, and the nearest 
borders of the world of not self. The end of the optic nerve 
from the borders of the world of not self receives a communi- 
cation, and transmits it to the central office. The operator an- 
nounces: "A telegram from a tree." The tree did not come to 
the optic nerve, nor did the optic nerve go out to it. But the 
tree transmitted a force to this nerve sufficient to put it to vi- 
brating or pulsating. This is vision. Now we have the matter 
tree, the matter nerve, and the motions of matter. These are 
real and visible, but the force that moves these swinging nerves 
is invisible and indestructible. The existence of matter, from 
what we see, is less certain, less real, than the existence of a 
force as manifested by these motions of matter. We believe 
that were our eyes bandaged and we placed in a dungeon and 
had the power to start up the same vibrations in the optic 
nerve, then we would see this same tree, together with all its 
surrounding objects. The same is true of the auditory nerve, 
and the phonograph is an example proving this truth. The 
scope of inorganic matter, per se, is rest, made so by a force 
which, undisturbed, would ever hold it fast; and we know that 
any visible motion in this is every time the product of another 
force than that which would keep it in a state of rest. Now we 
know that there are two forces in nature. Our bodies are mat- 
ter, and called organic, for each organ is an instrument of action 
by which some process is carried on. The nerves are organs of 
perception and sensation, the instruments of conveyance or 
communication. The object of organism is that it may receive 
support, sought or unsought, from its kinsmen. "We said that it 
was infused with the same forces. Solomon says, "All things 
are full of labor," the power of doing work. Now the forces 
that fill all matter exterior to us talk to their relatives, individ- 
uals that make our intellectual organism, as matter talks to 
matter through their vocalizing mediums. Thus force commu- 
nicates only with force. "We said all intellectuality was drawn 
from these, was, like our physical organism, thus fed and built 
up. I place my hand on a red-hot stove. The hand only was 
burned; the heat was not, nor could it be, transmitted one 
inch beyond the place of contact; so the heat was not trans- 
mitted, but a force sufficient to produce a peculiar nerve 
motion which force alone can interpret, is interpreted a, burn. 
The earth teaches geology. In the study, the real earth is never 
thought of, but the formations, their positions, and the forces 
that made them. If we study zoology, we look beyond the 
dead bones to the actuations that once filled them. If we study 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 187 

astronomy, we look within, to the matter that makes the 
planets, or the invisible suns, to the forces that united them 
into bulks, that shaped them, that move them, that keep them 
in certain circuits. Beyond these, we know nothing of matter. 
It is said that matter can not opeiate on spirit or spirit on mat- 
ter. This seems true. The living- spirit of matter, the forces 
God gave to matter, the great physicist says are immortal. To 
these, and only these, do man's speculations extend. His per- 
ception can comprehend these, and nothing more. Newton 
saw the apple — saw it falling. He lost sight of the apple and 
its falling, and sought the only thing, the invisible immortal 
force that carried it straight down. A cow sees an apple, sees 
it fall; she rushes to the apple only and appropriates it to that 
alone which saw the apple fall, her physical nature. 

Vegetables and animals devoid of those higher internal forces 
are unable to see the higher forces with which matter is moved. 
Man alone has these higher forces. He is akin to matter, and 
likewise is a kinsman of the angels. His higher powers are 
those of angels, the breath that God breathed into him. Gen- 
esis xxviii. 12: "And he dreamed, and behold a ladder set up on 
the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven: and behold the 
angels of God ascending and descending on it." This vision 
occurred to Jacob seventeen hundred and sixty years before 
Christ. John, on the divinity, humanity, and office of Jesus 
Christ, seventeen hundred and ninety years after Jacob's won- 
derful dream, says (John i. 51): "And he saith unto him, 
Verily, verily, I say unto yon, Hereafter ye shall see heaven 
open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon 
the Son of man." Now we have the ladder that Jacob saw — a 
Ihree-round ladder that stands on the earth and reaches to 
neaven. This shows our connection with both worlds. The 
three rounds are: Earth-man, man-Christ, Christ-God. Christ 
was introduced to the world by his humanity. In the flesh 
our spiritual natures were through the flesh introduced to 
his spiritual nature, and through his spiritual nature we, our 
spiritual selves, are reconciled to God. So we get our accumu- 
lations of knowledge. Our material bodies, composed as they 
are of matter and force, bring us in close communion with the 
matter world, and through this union our intellectual selves are 
introduced to the hidden forces of matter. Thus, I have in my 
hand a pound weight. I feel the pressure just when the intro- 
duction is taking place. The pound weight and the hand being 
of the same creation, schoolmates, brothers, these are acquaint- 
ed, no introduction is necessary. Then the pound weight says: 
"Let me introduce Gravity to your intellectuality, my brother 
Hand." The same mode of reasoning gives proof of man's 
fall. AVhen God made man and had placed him in the garden 
he pronounced him not only good, but very good — that is, in 
substance he was truthful and obedient. This was man's first 
estate in his two natures, physical and intellectual, earthy and 



188 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

angelic. Matter to him was the schoolroom, the open avenue 
to God. This tenement was his observatory, from which he 
could learn God through his works. These are the thoughts of 
God, his way. Man disobeyed. He was very soon pronounced 
desperately wicked and full of deceit. Then his material self 
was debased. 

Proof: Outside of man did you ever hear of one disobedient 
particle of matter? Have you ever found anywhere in na- 
ture the faintest coloring of deceit? Mechanics, the laws of 
machinery, gunnery, the movements of the heavenly bodies ; 
in fact, all our learning is based on the truth that matter won't 
lie. Now count the locks, bolts, and bars that make fast the 
doors to our houses ; see the massive lock that threatens us 
from every business house in the world. See the massive safes 
and vaults that taxed the highest mechanical skill that they 
might the more accuse us. See the jails, penitentiaries. See 
the gallows. Count them, and you will find more than one for 
every man, woman, and child on the globe. Thus man acknowl- 
edges his debasement, and brings out his testimony to this ac- 
knowledgment. Then if this be true, before man's creation 
matter was not debased, and was good for all the purposes that 
God had in design for it. He put his law in it, and it has kept 
it inviolable all the ages. 



CHAPTEK IX. 

Influence of Gravity — Eesult Should This Force Fail — General 
Ruin Will Follow the Dissolution of This Force— The Fall of 
Worlds Illustrated. 

Attraction of Gravitation. 

Isaac Newton, seeing an apple fall to the ground, 
said, "Some force drew it thither;" and he named 
that force gravity. From this observation he de- 
duced the law found in the preceding chapter, and 
by it explained the falling tendency toward the sun 
seen in the planets, and in satellites toward their pri- 
maries, making it the cause of circular orbits in 
these planets and satellites. It is the constant 
force that holds these to their centers, while another 
force impels them forward. 

Jonah, referring to the time that lie was thrown 
overboard, says (Jonah ii. 6): "I went down to the 
bottoms of the mountains; the earth with her bars 
was about me." One side remark: Jonah and the 
whale have been the subject of comment perhaps 
since that occurrence. Skeptics and critics have dis- 
covered that the swallow of the whale is not large 
enough to take in a man; that for want of air he 
could not have lived three days, nor even one. We 
have before us Jonah's own statement. In this 
short statement are two truths coming from him 
that ought to put to shame these man-devised theo- 
ries of little throats and want of air as being insur- 
mountable obstacles in God's wav for carrying out 

(189) 



190 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Ms plan. "I went down to the bottoms of the moun- 
tains." These critics are confronted by a very seri- 
ous dilemma. They must admit that it is no fiction; 
that Jonah absolutely saw this mountain, or that it 
is a gift of inspiration. Mountains are found at the 
bottom of the sea — a thing I can not see how Jonah 
knew. If we accept Jonah's statement, these criti- 
cisms are foolish. To accept it as a gift of inspira- 
tion puts clear out of sight the size of a throat or 
scarcity of air. 

The other truth found in the text, and the one in 
line with our present discussion, is that of gravity. 
"I went down to the bottoms of the mountains; the 
earth with her bars was about me." 

Mr. Johnson defines bar thus, "Anything by which 
a structure is held together;" and, curious to say, he 
refers to our text from Jonah. Bar — anything by 
which a structure is held together. Were we to de- 
fine gravity in a philosophical sense, we could not im- 
prove on Johnson's definition of bar. This is now 
the earth's bars, that thing which holds the earth to- 
gether. You remember this is the same thing that 
was set over the sea after it was drawn to its bounds. 
He set bars and doors, and said: "Hitherto shalt 
thou come, . . . and here shall thy proud waves be 
stayed." We said in another place that this was a 
physical force; now we have shown that it is the 
force that holds the earth as one structure and 
chains the sea in its place. It has been w T ell sug- 
gested that the atoms drawn together by cohesion 
resemble a weight pressed to the earth by gravity. 
Going out from these atoms is truly that which holds 
our earth together, holds it and all the other mem- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 191 

bers of our system in one structure; that holds all 
the systems as one mighty structure, a moving cara- 
van in limitless space. 

Job xxviii. 11 : " He bindeth the floods from over- 
flowing." This is the force expressed by the bar that 
was set over the proud waves of the sea, that holds 
down the floods, the same that went down to the 
bottom of the mountains with Jonah and is there de- 
fined as bars of the earth. Bindeth — Mr. Webster 
defines: "To tie together; to confine with cords or 
anything that is flexible." After defining this word 
Mr. Webster then refers to the above text. Flood 
is not tied to flood, but flood to land. With anything 
flexible — how beautiful! how convenient! how neces- 
sary! If gravity were not a flexible force, we could 
either not lift a body at all, or, when once lifted, this 
cord, if inflexible, would break, and the body, when 
loosed, would not fall to the ground. Can we even 
think of anything being bound with a cord without 
associating with the thought the idea that this cord 
encircles the thing and is a center-drawing cord? If 
a cord is used to tie a thing, we draw the cord and 
force the bundle or the thing tied toward the center 
till the cord fills fully its object — that is, holds the 
particles together. From this we get the very com- 
mon word "binding-twine." Binding-twine! I re- 
peated the word, and your mind flew away to wheat- 
fields, reapers, binders, and the various bundles re- 
ceived from the counters of every store in all the 
land. 

Can a thing be free if it be bound in order to pre- 
vent it doing the very thing that it would do were 
it not bound? Can we imagine a thing as bound 



192 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

without presupposing a binding force? "He bind- 
eth" — an ever-present, active, continuous force; a 
circling, twine-binding illustration. Philosophy calls 
gravity a center-binding force, and presents it to our 
imaginations as a thread, line, cord, or cable, which 
experience teaches are flexible. Every weight lifted 
will when loosed spring back to the ground, demon- 
strating the truth of its flexibility. This is the tie- 
string that keeps watch over the rising floods that 
they go not beyond their bounds. Every particle of 
matter is bound in the same way, and by the same 
binding force is held and kept from going too high. 
The breaking of the least of these cords would fill all 
matter with confusion and license the floods with un- 
bounded sway. We are taught that the clouds are 
raised by the buoyant force of the air, and that the 
force of gravity resists this upward tendency till the 
clouds reach a point of such diminished buoyancy 
that they can no longer resist, and are stopped. If 
the buoyant force of the air be greater than the force 
of gravity, the clouds rise; if less, they fall under the 
influence of gravity. When the ascending cloud 
reaches the height where these two forces are ex- 
actly equal — that is, the uplift of the air and the 
downpull of gravity — surely then the cloud is bal- 
anced, and it now measures the buoyant force of the 
air and also the force of gravity, because the one is 
equal to the other. Again, when a cloud has risen 
to any height and stops, the air that once filled the 
space now occupied by the cloud is precisely equal 
in weight to the cloud — that is, the weight of the 
cloud just balances the weight of the displaced air 
when laid on the scales. Job xxxvii. 16 : "Dost thou 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 193 

know the balancings of the clouds, the wondrous 
works of him which is perfect in knowledge? " Is it 
not wonderful that Job should talk so? Three hun- 
dred years ago the world knew nothing of this prop- 
erty of the air. To Job it was weighed in a balance 
with a cloud perhaps four thousand years ago. Had 
the world felt that this text meant anything, and 
had it experimented along the line of its statements, 
thousands of years ago would have found the world 
as wise as we of to-day. O what a fearful penalty 
the world has endured for the neglect of studying 
God's word! To be balanced implies two equal 
forces or weights. The term ''balancing," connect- 
ed with the clause "the wondrous works of him 
which is perfect in knowledge," will drive us into 
no thought other than the one above. It is a won- 
drous work. That this is true, no scientist will dis- 
pute or deny for one moment. Nothing short of ex- 
tensive knowledge can comprehend it fully. It is 
"the wondrous works of him which is perfect in knowl- 
edge" It was done by a Scholar, and will take such 
to fully comprehend it. Why be so explicit, so 
strong in terms, if it had no intricacies? It is one of 
the most intricate questions found in the field of 
science. Its invisibility puts it out of sight ; its in- 
tangibility, out of reach. The idea of associating 
air with material things was never thought of by 
the ancients. Seeing the air rush in to fill vacant 
space, the followers of Aristotle explained it by 
saying that nature abhorred a vacuum. This an- 
swered the purposes of philosophers and constituted 
their fund of knowledge pertaining to atmospheric 
pressure for two thousand years. Torricelli, the pu- 
13 



194 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

pil of Galileo, experimenting with the pump, found 
that the water would not rise as high as the lower 
pump valve if this valve were so much as thirty-four 
feet above the surface of the water. He reasoned 
that there is a force that holds up the water. He 
verified the conclusion that the weight of the air is 
the unknown force. Pascal carried his experiments 
to various heights, and found that the pressure de- 
creased with the height. This gave us our barome- 
ter, and was followed by the law of gravitation and 
our present views concerning the atmosphere. This 
thought was the forerunner of the coming law of 
gravity. Jeremiah xxxi. 35: "Thus saith the Lord, 
which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the or- 
dinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by 
night, which [ordinances] divideth the sea when the 
waves thereof roar." Now we are brought together 
in terms and meaning. The tides are gigantic, wave- 
like movements. They differ from wind-waves in 
their extent, in their regularity, in their cause. The 
principal cause of tides is the influence of the moon. 
The sun exerts a tide-producing influence; being four 
hundred times farther, its influence is far less than 
the moon's. The stars exert a control over the con- 
ditions of earthly matter, which aid in producing 
tides. The sun was given for a light. It is not 
given to the moon and. stars, which are for light by 
night, but to the ordinances of the moon and stars, 
which were given for a light by night; these ordi- 
nances divide the sea when the waves thereof roar. 
This ordinance, which is but a term for law, is the 
very thing upon which the foundations of the earth 
hang, and which philosophy defines as attraction — 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 195 

a force awarded the moon sufficient to if t mighty 
waves above the surface of the sea. 

Twice in every twenty-four hours the waters, 
drawn on by the moon's attraction, fall upon the 
shore with fearful crash, as they are checked in their 
pursuit of that body around the earth. This force is 
being expended on our earth to draw it from its 
track. It is a safe sailing-boat of ours. David 
says: "The world also is stablished, that it can not 
be moved." It may divide the seas, lift the waters, 
draw them from the poles, carry these around the 
globe at the rate of a thousand miles an hour, but 
here it must end; it can not overcome the force that 
establishes the earth. These ordinances came to the 
moon and stars by gift for a special purpose; beyond 
that purpose they are helpless. Philosophers and 
astronomers call this sea-dividing ordinance by no 
other name than that of attraction, the ordinance of 
gravitation. 

Psalm lxv. 6, 7: "Which by his strength setteth 
fast the mountains; being girded with power: which 
stilleth the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, 
and the tumult of the people." There are two forces 
mentioned in the text: one a physical force, opera- 
ting on matter; and the other a mental or moral 
force, operating on the dispositions of the people. 
The force that holds the mountains fast and stilleth 
the noise of the sea is one and the same. The force 
that stilleth the tumult of the people is quite an- 
other. These forces are by the text attributable to 
the same source, and are very similar in tendency to 
do work. He — whereas we say law of gravitation — 
is made the center to whom all matter gravitated 



196 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

similarly as all minds of men do; or, just as matter 
has a center, a force pervading and controlling its 
particles, so has the mind one to which it gravitates. 
The two worlds, physical and spiritual, are precisely 
alike in this, that each has its center and each has a 
force that binds each to its own center. In physics 
we call it the attraction of gravitation ; in morals we 
call it attraction. As a proof of this, take Psalm 
Ixxviii. 69: "And he built his sanctuary like high 
palaces, like the earth which he hath established for- 
ever." The foundations and the continuance of his 
sanctuary depend wholly upon attractive influences. 
Attraction carries men to the sanctuary and holds 
them there. God's sanctuaries are as abiding as the 
centralizing forces that succor them. Attraction es- 
tablishes the earth forever. 

"Which by his strength setteth fast the moun- 
tains," What makes fast the mountains? Strength. 
How is this strength applied? "Girded with pow- 
er." No philosopher ever said more, nor with great- 
er simplicity. Let us see if much more is not im- 
plied. Were the earth motionless and flat, a girding 
strength would not be necessary to set fast the 
mountains. It is a thing of many motions; some 
force is necessary, and none can answer so well as a 
circling force. This force must act in opposition to 
motions, or the text is meaningless. "Girded with 
power" explains all this, and more: the earth is cir- 
cled with power; this circling power compasses the 
mountains. This is a circular operating force that 
pushes all terrestrial bodies toward the earth's cen- 
ter. Job, in speaking of the floods, says: "He bind- 
eth." This we defined as confining with cords or 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 197 

anything flexible. Now, in speaking of the moun- 
tains, the Psalmist sa} T s " girded with power.'' Gird- 
ed, Mr. Webster defines, to bind by surrounding with 
any flexible substance, as a twig or cord. While it 
is a binding force, the term girded with a girdle im- 
plies a center-drawing force. By it the mountains 
are made fast. Though the earth moves along her 
path with great rapidity, and at the same time re- 
voltes on its axis at the rate of a thousand miles per 
hour, still the mountains are secure, being girded 
with power. 'Tis a wave-checking and a mountain- 
holding power. In both instances we have defined 
these cords as flexible. Flexible: that which may 
be bent, capable of being turned or forced from a 
straight line without breaking. Gravitation is truly 
a flexible line or force. A ball is ejected upward 
with a velocity that carries it a thousand feet per 
second. As it leaves the projectile force this cord 
begins to bend; as it ascends the tension tightens, till 
the ball is stopped. Now the projectile force has 
passed into this bent cord, and has put into it all its 
force, that will be developed as this flexible cord 
springs back to resume its quiescent state. We can 
not conceive a force sufficient to drive this same ball 
fast enough or far enough to break this flexible cord. 
It is the great enemy of motion, but the great stay 
from confusion. "Which stilleth the noise of the 
seas, the noise of their waves." The relative "which" 
refers to the same force that makes the mountains 
fast. Gravitation stilleth the noise of the waves. 
Rays philosophy: "Waves are produced by the fric- 
tion of the winds against the surface of the water. 
The wind raises the particles of the water, and grav- 



198 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ity draws them back again." It is this center-bind- 
ing force that bids the frolicking waves be still. 
Tremendous waves may toss and leap like mountains 
set out from the clouds, but the flexibility of this cord 
accommodates them with a bend only to bring them 
back again, to still the noise of the seas, the noise of 
the waves. We, at this day, attribute it to God's 
means, his laws. The Psalmist and Job attribute 
it directly to God himself. So we neither differ as to 
the author of these forces nor in defining the forces 
themselves. Job xxvi. 7: "He stretcheth out the 
north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth 
upon nothing." "He stretcheth out the north over 
the empty place." Lieut. Maury, of the United 
States Navy, says that " Sir John Herschel has been 
sounding the heavens recently, and that he finds the 
empty place spoken of in the text precisely where 
Job told Bildad the Shuhite it was." Now, reader, 
before we comment, which of the two questions given 
in the text above would you regard the more diffi- 
cult — to determine that the north stretched out over 
an empty place or to determine how the earth was 
suspended in space? It seems to me that Job has 
answered the more difficult of the two first. How 
can he venture an assertion on the other without 
knowing the first truth? or how could we question 
his statement touching the latter, when it surely 
seems the simpler of the two? My reason for say- 
ing this is that the law of gravitation was known to 
man two hundred years or more before Sir John 
Herschel made his observations. Our simpler truths 
were the first ones learned. "Hangeth the earth 
upon nothing." Then it is a hanging earth, a sus- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 199 

pended earth, an earth that hangs on nothing. Let 
us see the difference that philosophy will make. 
Says Mr. Steele: "It may help us to conceive how the 
earth is supported if we imagine the sun letting 
down a huge cable and every star in the heavens a 
tiny thread to hold our globe in its place, while it in 
turn sends back a cord to every one; so we are bound 
to them, and they to us." Philosophers agree that 
the earth hangs upon an imaginary line, one that 
does not exist visibly, only an influence found in the 
very expression, "hangeth." 

Job ix. 6: "Which shaketh the earth out of her 
place, and the pillars thereof tremble." Read the 
fourth to tenth verses inclusive of this same chapter. 
See supplement to rotation of earth on its axis and 
its motions about the sun. " The pillars thereof trem- 
ble." As the earth shakes, moves back and forth 
out of its place, the supports or pillars tremble. A 
pillar is that which upholds. These are placed be- 
neath the thing to be upheld. Then the pillars of the 
earth must be beneath the earth. The earth is a 
great globe, the center of which is its lowest point; 
every other point throughout the earth is above this 
one. Stand at the center of the earth and point in 
every direction, and each is up. From this point 
there is no down ; all is up. All bodies are drawn to- 
ward the center of the earth, not because of any pe- 
culiar property or power in the center, for all we 
know, but because the earth, being a great globe, the 
aggregate effect of the attraction exerted by all its 
particles upon any body exterior to it is such as to 
direct the body toward the center. The total amount 
of attraction exerted by the earth upon bodies ex- 



200 THE PLUMB-LINB. 

terior to it is the same as though that force were all 
concentrated at the center. Then the pillars that 
support the earth must be, if not at the center, so 
arranged that the total amount of support is the 
same as though these pillars were placed directly 
under the center. Stability in practical life we know 
depends much upon the direction of the pillars. 
Very great pains are taken to have them plumb. So 
with these earth-pillars; no plumb-line can excel 
them. These are the very patterns of which ours is 
but a poor representation. These pillars that sup- 
port a thing have foundations that rest upon some- 
thing far greater than the thing to be supported. 
Every particle of matter in the universe sends a pil- 
lar to the earth, and is placed where its support, to- 
gether with the aggregate support of all its pillars, 
operate as though they stood directly under the cen- 
ter of the earth. But these pillars tremble. "Trem- 
ble" means to shake involuntarily; not left to the op- 
tion of the pillars. This is an effect produced by a 
moving earth. Gravity acts as a tense spring. As 
the earth moves from the sun this spring bends, 
more and more retarding the earth's motion, till it 
reaches a point beyond which the spring will not al- 
low it to pass; here it stops. As a ball thrown up- 
ward, it gently turns, when this spring brings it back 
again. As the earth moves rapidly back and forth 
(this is the meaning of "shake") let us watch this 
spring, the aggregate of all the springs or pillars, 
and we will be convinced that no expression can be 
more beautiful, more expressive, than "the pillars 
thereof tremble." Those imaginary lines that phi- 
losophers suggest, that we may conceive how the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 201 

earth is supported, are less real, less potent, and far 
less representative. Tliey make it imaginary, while 
Job compares it to a thing about which all know. 
Philosophers make these lines as so many guy-ropes, 
allowing no motion to the thing tied nor expansion 
nor contraction of the springs that tie. Everywhere 
in the Bible they are flexible. In the above topic 
they tremble or shake — that is, these pillars or lines 
become longer or shorter; otherwise, they could not 
move back and forth involuntarily. It gives very 
plainly the idea of more or less tension as the earth 
moves to or from the sun. As an evidence that Job 
knew that the earth has no visible pillars, he had 
made the statement that he "hangeth the earth upon 
nothing." There is no variance, nor do these ex- 
pressions vary from those made by philosox)hers. 
They say "upon an imaginary line;" Job says "he 
hangeth it upon nothing," "pillars thereof tremble." 
As mind-helpers, tell me which is more illustrative. 
The great Lecturer, in his preliminaries from the 
whirlwind, began this subject thus: "Who is this 
that darkeneth counsel by words without knowl- 
edge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will 
demand of thee, and answer thou me." "Stand up, 
Job, like a man; answer me after the manner of a 
man." Knowledge is the desirable thing. Then he 
begins questioning Job as to earth supports. Job 
xxxviii. 4-7: "Where wast thou when I laid the foun- 
dations of the earth? declare, if thou hast under- 
standing. Who hath laid the measures thereof, if 
thou knowest? or who hath stretched the line upon 
it? Whereupon are the foundations thereof fast- 
ened? or who laid the corner-stone thereof; when the 



202 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God 
shouted for joy? " 

"Where was thou when I laid the foundations of 
the earth?" There are two thoughts to which our 
minds are directed: that the earth has foundations, 
and that these were laid during some remote period 
in the past. God did this work, and so tells Job. 
Foundations differ from pillars in this: foundations 
are the groundwork, and are as firm as that in 
which they are laid, and always far more stable than 
the structure to be raised on them; pillars reach 
from these foundations directly to the thing to be 
upheld, and, as we said, are beneath the thing sup- 
ported. The pillars have less strength than the 
foundations, and bear a relation in size and strength 
to the weight of the thing on the pillars. Every par- 
ticle of matter in the universe is a stone in the earth's 
foundations. There is a plurality of foundations. 
To be sure, they do not occupy the same place, for 
then the earth could have but one foundation. 
Planted on every star in space is a foundation ; from 
each of these a pillar rises to support the earth, 
while it sends back a pillar to each. 

"Who hath laid the measures thereof? " There is 
an apparent ambiguity in this expression. What 
was measured? One of the two things mentioned 
in the foregoing topic. "Foundations of the earth." 
Foundations being used first and expressed in the 
plural, when compared with the topic that follows, 
inclines us to the opinion that "measures there- 
of" refers to the foundations of the earth. The 
things that support all matter have dimensions suffi- 
cient to give stability to the stupendous structure 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 203 

of worlds and systems built thereon. Again, the 
comparison is of such a practical nature that we can 
readily realize the intimate relation of matter and 
force or weight and support. Certain dimensions of 
foundations are necessary every time to support cer- 
tain weights of greater or less height. The larger 
the house to be built, the greater the foundations; 
the less the house, the less the foundations required. 
The foundations are always laid first; afterward the 
superstructure goes up on these or on pillars rising 
from them. The same is true of the earth. This 
thought is made clear by many Bible expressions. 
For the present we cite you to Psalm civ. 5 : "He hath 
founded the earth upon her bases." We give you the 
marginal rendering rather than the written text. 
Read the text. The earth stands upon bases that 
must have been laid somewhere outside and apart 
from the earth. The weight of the earth suggested 
certain bases. This created the necessit}^ that the 
mountains be weighed in scales and the hills in a 
balance. Weight, and weight only, determines 
measures of foundations. 

" Who hath stretched the line upon it ? " Here ref- 
erence is made to the foundation as the thing upon 
which the line is stretched. Gravity is influenced by 
two circumstances, and only two: weight and dis- 
tance. Distance apart or removed has as much to 
do with the stones in foundations as does their 
weight. "The line." A definite line. The philoso- 
pher's line, and the same that David said went out 
through all the earth, is the one that was stretched 
upon the first foundations that stood upon the cor- 
ner-stone that was laid before he made the stars. 



204 THE PLUMB LINE. 

The corner-stone, the first stone, is laid as a basis of 
support for coming matter. Gravity, as a supporter 
of worlds, is the corner-stone. 

"Whereupon are the foundations thereof fast- 
ened?" On what now, Job, stand the foundations of 
the earth? "On this stretched line." These foun- 
dations and this stretched line existed before the 
earth, even before the sun, before our system was 
created. David so says. "In them [these lines] 
hath he set a tabernacle for the sun." These lines 
existed, then, before the sun's tabernacle was set. 
The foundations of the earth, these stones that sup- 
port it, are the individual particles of matter 
throughout space, each influencing precisely in pro- 
portion to its number of particles and its distance 
from the earth. 

"Who laid the corner-stone thereof?" Corner- 
stone is the first rock of the foundation not of the 
earth only, but of coming matter. The same is the 
corner-stone of the earth's foundations. When this 
was laid as to the earth's immediate coming the 
morning stars and the sons of God shouted for joy. 
The corner-stone of the earth's foundations for its 
support is the corner-stone for the support of all 
matter. This is gravity, the corner-stone of support. 
From weight to weight the line finds its wa}^ to every 
center and support till space is filled with golden, 
purple, crimson lights from silver-burnished ceilings. 
Judges v. 31: "Let them that love him be as the 
sun when he goeth forth in his might." "Might" 
signifies primarily and chiefly bodily strength or 
physical power. Then the song of Deborah and Ba- 
rak was that to those that love him, that they might 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 205 

have a power or might like that of the sun, a light- 
giving, a heat-giving power, and a power to impart 
these. High above this is the thought of our work 
— viz., that it is a centralizing might of the sun as 
potent in every respect as we believe that of the sun 
is. This might is his strength to hold to himself 
and draw after him planets, satellites, meteors, and 
shooting stars without number. "As the sun when 
he goeth forth in his might." The prayer was not 
that they have a love as a standing, but a moving 
sun, one full of power, motion, and activity, making 
the law of love, the law of binding to, of leading on, 
"Attraction." The law of love defines no acute an- 
gles. It is a plumb-line by which its votaries work. 
It leads from heart to heart, center to center; in all 
the changes it ever points there. The adoring sub- 
ject moves round his center with his radius defining 
his circle. This the most beautiful of all geomet- 
rical figures. The sun is here made to go forth. As- 
tronomers tell us that he is making a great sidereal 
journey, which in all probability will consume mil- 
lions of years for him to complete. To us this is 
comparatively a new theory; but it is so written in 
the book of Judges, a published inspiration three 
thousand years old. It was that old when Sir Isaac 
Newton was born. 

Isaiah xl. 26: "Lift up your eyes on high, and be- 
hold who hath created these, that bringeth out their 
host by number: he calleth them all by names by the 
greatness of his might, for that strong in power ; not 
one faileth." Lift up your eyes on high, and behold 
who hath created these." What things are here spo- 
ken of as the created things? Only the things that 



206 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

bringeth out their hosts, the leaders. What things 
can we see with the eye when lifted to the starry 
vault above? Suns, suns, suns, and only suns. The 
prophet makes it so. The only visible things are 
leaders, suns. " That bringeth out their host by num- 
ber." Now we have visible to the eye, not through a 
glass, suns; and we are told that each leads his host. 
No better exposition of the theory of moving systems 
can be found in all the learning of the world. "That 
bringeth out their host." Bring — to carry, to convey, 
to fetch from. Here a force is imputed to each sun to 
convey a host. He created our sun, which leads its 
retinue of worlds. He created all the suns that like- 
wise lead out each its host. The power is given to a 
material leader, that power with which matter is 
endued. 

"He calleth them all by names by the greatness of 
his might." We said that might meant physical 
power. Now we do not believe that it is a manifes- 
tation of great physical power in God to name these 
stars, nor can we believe this any part of the thought 
set forth. " He calleth them all by names." "Call" 
means to summons. God created all these, and he 
gave each the power to lead its host out. Now his 
might is contrasted with the might not only of each 
of these suns, but with all of them. "For by the 
greatness of his might he summons each by name." 
He says to our sun, "Send the shadow backward 
round the dial of Ahaz," or, "Sun, stand still over 
Gibeon," and it is done. This is God's strength, his 
might. 

"For that strong in power; not one faileth." You 
observe that we omitted the italicized words in the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 207 

text. To correctly comprehend our last topic let us 
refer to a preceding topic and show that something 
else was implied. We deferred the other thought 
till we reached this part of our discussion. We said 
that God created all the suns ; we had reference to 
the material of which these were made. Let us look 
steadily at this construction for a moment, and we 
will see beyond this a force, an implied creation also, 
" He created these, that bringeth out their host." He 
created a sun as leader. Beyond we see he created 
the force that carries, that leads and draws on its 
train, as we create steam or electricity. With the 
eye we see the engine drawing a great train, but the 
life of the engine is created first, and is within. "For 
that strong in power; not one faileth." These suns, 
endued with power, are strong; not one faileth. At 
his summons they obey, yet they have the bodily 
power to lead out their hosts. Now we can appre- 
ciate God's great power. Our sun has the power to 
hold to himself a train of worlds, to carry these with 
inconceivable velocities on an endless journey. He 
calls by name, "Sun, of the solar system, stand;" all 
the powers of the sun are broken, and it obeys. At 
the shining of his glittering spear it moves on. 

" For that strong in power ; not one faileth." Who 
is strong? Evidently these leaders. "Strong in 
power; not one faileth." Power is the thought, 
power is the thing that prevents a single one of this 
host from failing. 

Isaiah xl. 12: "Who weighed the mountains in 
scales, and the hills in a balance?" Some one 
weighed the mountains, or the question should have 
been asked: "Were the mountains weighed?" Then 



208 THE PLUSES-LINE. 

there was purpose for weighing the mountains and 
the hills. Yes; weight is only the force of gravity. 
As the mountain poses in one pan of the scales, what 
is laid in the other? As a hill swings from one arm 
of the balance, what swings from the other? Not a 
thing to be weighed, but an estimater of gravity for 
the apportionment of matter to the ability of some 
guiding or carrying force. Here is a box car with a 
capacity for carrying twenty thousand pounds. The 
car is loaded. The force that drives the car along 
the track must outweigh the force that would carry 
the car and load to the center of the earth, or the car 
would never move. The mountains and hills were 
weighed to adjust them to a supporting and a carry- 
ing force. This is the central truth that supports 
the theory of moving worlds and upon which they 
hang in space. The scales with one pound of coffee 
on one pan are balanced or prevented from falling by 
a pound of cast-iron on the opposite pan. So with a 
world, with mountains and hills that make up a 
world. "The solar system is a magnificent clock- 
work of unfailing perfection. All its stupendous 
parts influence and are influenced by one another, 
yet all move on in absolute harmony. Every orb has 
its magnitude set off by a scale, its materials 
weighed in a balance, its distance measured by a line, 
and its velocity regulated by an infallible law. And 
in this celestial machinery our planet has its place, 
fitting therein as a wheel into a wheel in the works 
of a chronometer." Astronomers tell us that the 
earth has not varied in its revolution the one-hun- 
dredth part of a second in two thousand years. How 
fine must be that calculation that can retrospect two 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 209 

thousand years and declare with definiteness that 
the earth has not made a variation so small as this ! 
The one hundredth part of a second in two thousand 
revolutions, and each of these revolutions covering 
a distance of six hundred millions of miles at the 
clever speed of eighteen miles every second. We 
call that figuring. Says Josephus: "In the Wisdom 
of Solomon it is said of the luminaries, with relation 
no doubt to the miraculous standing still and going 
back, in the days of Joshua and Hezekiah: They 
have not wandered from the day that God created 
them; they have not forsaken their way from ancient 
generations, unless it were when God enjoined them 
by the command of his servant." Astronomy says 
that they have not varied. Solomon says, "They 
have not departed, unless it were when God enjoined 
them," not departed at all, not forsaken their way 
at all ; no mention of even the one hundredth part of 
a second, not limited even to two thousand years, 
but all the years that have dropped between their 
creation and the days of Solomon. The other state- 
ment we denominated figuring; what shall we call 
this? This was before the world could figure. We 
can call it nothing but inspiration. Man is su- 
premely blessed. He bears the image of God, he fig- 
ures through gifts from God, and is the recipient of 
inspirations from him. Holding on to these great 
truths, let us notice the effect should this attraction 
cease. Philosophy teaches that the earth would fly 
off with headlong speed into the icy, cheerless re- 
gions of space. "It would be but the snapping of a 
cord, which, once broken, all the forces could not 
check its flight or bring it back into subjection." 
14 



210 THE PLUMB-LINE, 

So philosophers, looking on these unchanging 
forces, when in full harmony, have prophesied the 
probable results should the cord that holds our earth 
in its place be broken. 

Isaiah xiii. 13, 14: "Therefore I will shake the 
heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place. 
. . . And it shall be as the chased roe, and as a sheep 
that no man taketh up." Here God mustereth the ar- 
mies of his wrath. The earth at some future period is 
to be made to lose its place and become as a chased 
roe, as a sheep that no man taketh up. No greater 
catastrophe could happen to this world in a physical 
sense. Here is a result emanating from a cause, we 
do not say similar to that given above, but is that in 
word, in its manner of production, and in the result 
itself. The simplicity of the illustration, together 
with its fidelity to the above fact, makes it wonder- 
ful. In his wrath he is to shake the heavens — not 
the earth, not the solar system, but all the systems. 
"1 will shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove 
out of her place." We defined "shake" to move rap- 
idly back and forth. Please notice the difference be- 
tween the verbiage of Job and Isaiah. Now the 
heavens will rock; this motion will remove the 
earth, not in, but out, from the sun, from its own 
orbit. This will snap the line upon which the foun- 
dations of the earth are fastened and which holds it 
to the sun's tabernacle; cut loose from this, the earth 
will remove "out from her place," and shall be as a 
chased roe, and as a sheep that no man taketh up. 
Philosophy says that it would fly off with headlong 
speed into the cheerless, icy regions of space. If it 
moved out, we know that this would be from the sun. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 211 

The prophet says that it will be as a chased roe. If 
it is to be as a chased roe, then we can make a com- 
parison showing the likenesses and detect the unlike- 
nesses, if any. The roe is one of the smallest of the 
deer, and is the female. The sun we denominated 
the bridegroom; the earth, its bride — one of them, 
and also one of the least. The roe is the weaker, 
is less than the roebuck. The earth is less than the 
sun, is weaker in its attractive influence. The roe 
is noted for its elegant shape. The earth is round; 
the circle is the most beautiful figure. The roe is 
noted for its nimbleness; the earth is to be charac- 
terized by this. The roe makes its home in the 
mountains. When chased it flies to higher heights, 
to deeper gulches. The awful stillness that reigns 
in tins region when sought alone fills one with an 
awe amounting to fear. The falling of a single leaf 
fills us with dread; the gentle rivulet that drops 
from a distant precipice awakens the belief that it 
is the tramp of some dangerous beast. The sun is 
long below the horizon, soon disappears, stars ap- 
pear early, eminences stretch out long shadows 
where sunlight would be. These lonely and cheer- 
less regions are the home of the roe. It betakes itself 
as far as possible from every human habitation. The 
earth is to be as a chased roe. This indicates a higher 
speed than usual; it indicates a wild, mad speed, 
treading along narrow, dangerous windings at dizzy 
heights or leaping from lofty precipices to great 
depths below, dashing against rocks and trees in this 
unguided flight. It is not making its accustomed 
rounds with genial companions on green grounds, by 
limpid streams. No; it is chased, pursued, and lost 



212 THE TLUMB-LINE. 

to all these. If tlie earth is tied to the sun by a cord, 
and if the earth sends out a thread to every star to 
hold it in its place, when the shake of the heavens is 
sufficient to move the earth out of its place, these 
flexible cords which tie it to the sun and stars will 
chase to their uttermost strength this fleeing earth 
as or like a chased roe in its ungoverned flight to the 
icy, cheerless regions of space. 

"As a sheep that no man taketh up." Now it is 
made simpler. It is a stray over which no man has 
authority. Like the earth, no world will have an in- 
fluence sufficient to hold it, nor a lawful claim to 
seize it. We see a comet; seemingly an uncontrolled, 
an ungnided world, it flies away into the cheerless 
depths of space like a stray sheep. It darts into the 
very blaze of the sun, is out and gone again. Grap- 
pling forces can not or will not restrain it. This is a 
fair illustration of man when he loses his attraction 
for Him who is girded with power as the world is es- 
tablished. He breaks away from the light into the 
dark, cheerless regions of sin. No persuasions, no 
admonitions, no reason, can check him. He is an un- 
balanced stray on the world's social and moral stage. 
Again, what would be the effects should these ordi- 
nances fail and the rotation of the earth cease? 
Says philosophy: "Were the earth instantly stopped, 
enough heat would be produced to raise a lead ball 
the size of our globe three hundred and eighty thou- 
sand degrees centigrade. If it were to fall into the 
sun (not out from it), it would produce a thousand 
times more heat than its burning." 

2 Peter iii. 10, 11: "But the day of the Lord will 
come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 213 

shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements 
shall melt with fervent heat, the earth also and the 
works that are therein shall be burned up. Then ail 
these things shall be dissolved." 

"The elements shall melt with fervent heat.*' 
There are two opposing forces residing in the mole- 
cules of matter. The one expends itself in making 
solids, is called the attractive force, and is the sub- 
ject of this chapter. The other expends itself in 
driving these matter particles asunder, is called the 
repellent force, and is heat. Ruin, seizing upon the 
true force, wraps the heavens in flames, consumes 
the earth and all the works therein. A great noise 
follows, announcing that the work of dissolution is 
done. Melted, its attractive force weakened. 

"Then all these things shall be dissolved." Dis- 
solve — to loose bonds. The fulfilment of this 
prophecy would be but the snapping of one of these 
cords. So the earth, as do all things, contains the 
very elements suited for the fulfilment of God's 
plan. 

Psalm cxix. 90, 91: "Thy faithfulness is unto all 
generations: thou hast established the earth, and it 
abideth. They continue this day according to thine 
ordinances: for all are thy servants." 

" Established the earth." Made it strong, durable, 
according to his laws, those laws that hold watch 
over the earth, that bind its particles to particles, 
and that tie it to the sun and stars, the law that 
keeps the floods from overflowing, the law that bal- 
ances the clouds, that holds the mountains girded 
with power, the law that carries a falling body 
straight down to the ground. These are his serv- 



214 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

ants. He lias given them the care of every atom, 
every grain of sand, every particle of matter in the 
universe. These make the earth strong, these make 
it abiding. "Everywhere in nature we find law in- 
terwoven with every particle of matter. Nowhere 
do we find chance. Every event is governed by 
fixed laws. If we would accomplish any result or 
perform any experiments, we must come into exact 
harmony with the universal system. If we deviate 
from the line of law by a hair's breadth, we fail. 
These laws have been in operation since the creation, 
and all the discoveries of science prove them to ex- 
tend to the most distant star in space. The atoms 
march in time, moving to the music of law. A crys- 
tal is but a specimen of molecular architecture built 
up by the forces with which matter is endowed." 

Let us follow these changes farther. Psalm cii. 
25, 26: "Of old hast thou laid the foundation of the 
earth: and the heavens are the work of thy hands. 
They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all 
of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture 
shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed." 
There are set forth in the text two ideas that we wish 
to notice. We think these in full accord with the 
teachings of astronomers and philosophers. All the 
starry worlds are to perish, wear out, as a garment. 
All of them shall wax old like a garment. The first 
is a declaration that they shall perish. The second 
tells how, by giving an example taken from the ob- 
servations of every half-civilized, civilized, or en- 
lightened household on the globe. It is to come 
about in a manner simple to every understanding. 
The great mysteries of the starry worlds find a solu- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 215 

tion suitable to the comprehension of the most illit- 
erate mother in all the world. They are to wax old 
like a garment. See that old coat? Once it was 
bright and new; the strength of the cloth was closely 
scrutinized by cautious hands when the purchase 
was made. The filling was picked from the selvage, 
spectacles adjusted to examine the fiber, the chain 
was passed upon. It was selected as the most dura- 
ble, among its other qualities. The cutting and fit- 
ting was to a plan, for a purpose. The very best 
thread was selected to hold it together. The very 
best tailor joined the seams; it went from the shop 
under a warrant not to rip. No ordinary force can 
rip its seams or make a rent in it. But now these 
cords that were the make-up of the cloth, that made 
it strong, have lost their strength; rents are easily 
made. The seams rip for want of strength in the 
fabric. The time comes when its own weight can 
not be sustained by these cords that once held it to- 
gether as a great coat. So the heavens shall perish 
when these forces are no longer able to hold all the 
parts in place. These cords that run out to all the 
worlds, from each to other, make the woof and warp 
that clothes matter as with a garment. "Wax old 
like a garment." Wax is a noun ; a thick, tenacious 
substance. In the Scriptures we find these phrases : 
"To wax strong," "to wax feeble," "to wax hot," "to 
wax old," "to wax worse." Tenacity is the idea set 
forth in each of the above scriptural phrases, and 
this, we think, is due to the word "wax" in part. 
"To wax strong" is to grow in power or strength, as 
wax approaches a consistency for greater tenacity. 
The very thing about which we are talking, the 



216 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

strength of worlds. "To wax warm" is to lose in 
part self-control, and thus approximate instability 
or a forgetfulness of self and self-surroundings. 
Warm wax loses some of its viscidity, its tenacity. 
"To wax feeble." Here is evidently a loss of 
strength. "To wax hot" tends to greater instabili- 
ty; its viscidity is barely above that of water. These 
worlds are to wax old like a garment; strength of 
cords gone. 

"They shall perish." The earth and the heavens 
are the perishable things here spoken of. To perish 
is to be in a state of decay or passing away. It is 
said that if the heat of the sun were produced by the 
burning of coal it would require a layer ten feet in 
thickness, extending over the whole sun, to feed the 
flame a single hour. Were the sun a solid body of 
coal, it would burn up, at that rate, in forty-six cen- 
turies. "According to the theory of Laplace, the sun 
may yet give off a few more planets, whose orbits 
will not exceed its present diameter. After a time 
its heat will have all been radiated into space, its fire 
will become extinct, and life on the planets will 
cease." The heat of the sun is generally considered 
to be produced by condensation, whereby the size of 
the sun is constantly decreasing. If it is to go out 
in the heavens, what must be the fate of those worlds 
that are dependent upon it for light and heat? If 
our sun is fading, we conclude that the suns of the 
other systems are fading too. If these go out, the in- 
dividual worlds that make up these systems will, 
like the earth and the other planets of our system, 
perish. The question above is no figure, but a stern 
fact. Mutation is written upon everything around 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 217 

us. Marble yields to the peck of time, brass and tlie 
harder metals bend, break, and dissolve under the 
fall of its noiseless strokes. The seas are not where 
they once were; the land is rising and subsiding. 
Suns, like untrimmed lamps, are going out from the 
deep above. The stars that we call constant, endur- 
ing, stars that have not varied from their appointed 
course since their creation, are to perish too. But 
they are to be changed as a vesture. How nice it is 
to tell us how the change is to come about! "As a 
vesture." When our garments become old and un- 
fit for use we lay them aside and put on new ones — 
brighter colors, better fabrics. Then we conclude 
that space will be made more resplendent when these 
perishing worlds move again in new and brighter 
colors, that a new song will ring out from these reno- 
vated worlds, and the sons of God lift anew their 
shouts of joy. 

Isaiah xxxiv. 4: "And all the host of heaven shall 
be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together 
as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the 
leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from 
the fig tree." 

"All the host of heaven shall be dissolved." "Dis- 
solve" means to loose bonds. The bonds that make 
the hosts of heaven a unit will first dissolve. The 
work will begin with our system ; then will follow the 
same results that would follow were the bonds of 
gravity loosed. At the creation of the first particle 
of matter in all the universe attractive forces drew 
them into worlds ; gravity led these worlds into sys- 
tems and directed the march of these through space, 
holding them in their appointed bounds. Now it is 



218 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

performing the last act in the drama. It is leading 
the cortege of worlds to one universal burial — down 
down, as a falling fig. 

"And the heavens shall be rolled together as a 
scroll." The heavens are the various systems that 
make the host. These are to be rolled together by 
systems. "As a scroll." How simple are the illus- 
trations given by inspiration ! A child can illustrate 
and comprehend many of the complex motions that 
baffled the wisest for thousands of years. "As a 
scroll." Take a sheet of paper (the longer the'paper 
the better), mark the center, roll up the sheet till the 
center point comes round on top, now pass a pin 
through the center, extending through the plies in 
the roll, then as the center comes round continue 
marking till the scroll is complete. The point you 
marked for the center will still be the center. Un- 
fold now your scroll and see with what arithmetical 
nicety you have marked these various stations. 
Their distances apart increase or decrease by a dif- 
ference as invariable throughout the scroll as is pos- 
sible to set off on a line with the finest dividers. 

The systems will be clossed en masse "as a scroll." 
Then "all their host shall fall down, as the leaf fall- 
eth off from the vine." Now we can not be mistaken. 
The prophet is too explicit touching the how this 
dissolution is brought about. "As the leaf falleth 
off from the vine." He draws no foreign comparison ; 
vines and leaves are scattered over all the world. 
Had he said the leaf of the coffee tree, the rubber, the 
banyan, the spruce, cedar, oak, or poplar tree, some, 
perhaps, would be shorn of an experiment. A leaf 
of the vine. "As the leaf falleth off " The leaf held 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 219 

to the vine through all its life; its hold supported it 
against gravity when it was young, tender, green, 
and full of sap, and much heavier than at the time of 
falling. Leaves are not severed from the stem by 
their weight. The force that holds these to the vine 
is weakened till it yields, then the leaves fall down. 
These hosts do not fall down as a leaf falls down, 
but they fall as the leaf fallcth off. The snapping of 
the force that sustains the hosts is just like the snap- 
ping of the force that holds the leaf, that frees It 
from the vine. When once severed these go straight 
down like a falling fig. They do not flutter through 
the air like a falling leaf. It is not here like a 
leaf shaken off by the wind nor one untimely severed 
from the twig, but one ripe, having served its pur- 
pose, filled its mission, comes to the period of its 
casting; the sustaining force, having served its pur- 
pose, gives up its charge, opens its hand, and a world 
drops. 

"And as a falling fig from the fig tree." This the 
result that will follow when the hosts are loosed, dis- 
solved. We hope that you will notice the difference 
manifested by these two last illustrations, the act of 
severance by the leaf, and the descent of the fig. 
The tendency of ail the worlds is toward each other. 
Our moon, as it were, is falling toward the earth at 
every point along its orbit; the earth, in turn, is fall- 
ing toward the sun. The other planets and their 
satellites are doing the same. The sun, with its ret- 
inue of worlds, is falling toward the center around 
which it is moving and around which perhaps many 
other systems like ours are revolving. And this far- 
off center, accompanied by its systems, is sweeping 



220 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

around another still more remote, yet having the 
same falling tendency. 

"All their host shall fall down." The most pier- 
cing sight on a clear night may see six thousand suns, 
perhaps none so small as ours. Give each of these 
eight planets, and satellites equal in number to 
ours. The telescope increases the number of suns 
till they become marvelous. As our facilities for ex- 
amining the heavens improve, new suns come to us. 
Systems, constellations, themselves seem boundless. 
The force that has held each in its place, that pre- 
vented them from rushing together, will yield; dis- 
solution will have done its work. A mighty whirl- 
pool of systems and constellations will roll up till 
the center of all centers be the center of this scroll. 
As the hosts begin their fall, satellites drop down 
upon their primaries, primaries drop down upon 
their suns. Then will follow a rain of suns — blue, 
green, yellow, orange, and red — down, down, as or 
like a falling fig. 

The lav/ of gravitation was the direct result of ob- 
servations made on the falling of an apple. Newton 
said: "The force that drew the apple down to the 
ground is the same force that holds the worlds in 
their places; and, were this force severed, these 
worlds would fall together as or like the falling of 
an apple." Newton's demonstration was satisfac- 
tory to the learned. Isaiah says: "When the force 
that holds these worlds is dissolved then they will 
fall down as a fig falls down." There is no difference 
in the two illustrations. Newton illustrated the fall 
of worlds by the fall of an apple; Isaiah illustrated 
the fall of worlds by the fall of a fig. Had Newton, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 221 

in Isaiah's day, preached from our text the doctrine 
of gravity as he did from the ax^ple, the world would 
have been as wise two thousand vears ago as it is 
to-day touching this doctrine. 

After the ruin a great noise will follow, proclaim- 
ing that the heavens have passed away. The songs 
of the stars will have ceased. They will have no 
voice, no speech, no language, no words. Their lines 
will have returned from throughout all the earth 
and their words from the end of the world. Empti- 
ness and darkness will reign supreme. The forces 
that controlled the mighty caravans in limitless 
space will have wrought their missions; crouching 
at the feet of Him who called them in his might and 
whose servants they are, they become witnesses of 
his faithfulness down all the ages. These are God's 
servants; these minister about his house. When 
communing with this force let us feel that we talk to 
one of his servants, and let us feel assured that it will 
tell us nothing but true and pleasing stories of its 
Master, one perfect in knowledge. Jeremiah xxxi. 
36: "If those ordinances [of the sun, moon, and 
stars] depart from before me, saith the Lord, then 
the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a na- 
tion before me forever." How impossible the de- 
parture of these forces from before him! They are 
kept under his watchful eye, ever before him. These 
keep the seas in place, hold the mountains, balance 
the clouds, make the earth abiding, that it can not be 
moved forever. 



CHAPTER X. 

Motion — Cause of Day and Night — Sun's Place — Rotation of the 
Earth on Its Axis — Its Motion About the Sun — Planetary- 
Orbits Elliptical — The Three Laws of Kepler Illustrated — 
Obliquity of the Ecliptic — The Sun Rises and Sets Always 
within the Tropics — Motion and Rest Absolute and Relative 
— Rest only Relative — Theory of Systems Taught — The Sun's 
Motion through Space — The Earth a Star — Supplement to 
Rotation of the Earth — The Sun and Stars Do Not Rise and 
Set by Their Own Motions — In Fact, Every Feature That Is 
Taught by Astronomers When Dispensing the Great Motions 
of Planets and Systems — Honor to Whom Honor Is Due. 

Motion. 

Scientists tell us that nothing is absolutely in a 
state of rest, that all things are in motion. They 
define "energy" in a physical sense as the power of 
doing work. It is, in general, something put into a 
body by means of work. Ecclesiastes i. 8: "All 
things are full of labor; man can not utter it; the 
eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with 
hearing." The truth of this and its conformity to the 
teachings of to-day are too apparent to need a single 
comment. We can not refrain, however, from call- 
ing attention to the last two clauses. "The eye is 
not satisfied with seeing." This teaches that the 
motions of objects we see around us do not satisfy, 
but beget a spirit of investigation that carries us into 
the hidden motion of matter, motions that the eye 
can never see. The very fact that these visible mo- 
tions have led men to seek and to find hidden mo- 
tions in all the various forms of matter, and make 
(222) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 223 

tliem say that light and heat are but manners of 
motions and that temperature marks the velocity of 
these motions, that among the molecules of matter 
move the ethereal waves as wind in the branches 
of trees, is a wonderful comment on the sayings of 
the great preacher when we consider the age in 
which he lived. 

"Nor the ear filled with hearing." When the la- 
bors of matter are sufficiently violent to vibrate six- 
teen times per second our ears catch the vibrations 
and we hear the low musical tone. As the vibra- 
tions increase the pitch increases till these vibrating 
bodies swing back and forth nearly forty thousand 
times per second. Our ear has distinguished each, 
but now its gamut ends and stillness reigns, though 
this cord vibrates on, forever increasing. Beyond 
this our sense of hearing will not go. "The ear is 
not filled." There are probable sounds in nature 
that we never hear. These vibrating cords, as they 
continue, present all the colors of the rainbow to the 
eye and a sense of heat to the touch, through all 
gradations of temperature. Thus is seen the inti- 
macy of the eye and the ear and a suggestion of the 
truth of internal senses that are too spacious to be 
filled by even all the concomitant motions of matter; 
that if these are ever -filled that sufficiency will come 
from science and sound too refined for our gross 
senses. 

"All things are full of labor." This means every- 
thing. To be full of labor is to be full of the power 
of doing work, full of energy. To be full of energy 
asserts the truth that nothing exists in a state of 
rest. The air is filled with busy wings through sum- 



224 THE PLUME-LINE. 

mers and autumns; winter comes, these never-wea- 
ried wings, though folded, are potent with the forces 
that carry them on through all the modifications of 
matter, more alive than when they transported the 
body through its little instincts from flower to flow- 
er. The animal kingdom seems never wearied in its 
search for food. Man is waked by the song of birds ; 
he rises and goes to the great business of life; his 
ears ring with the clank of arms battling for a profi- 
ciency, booming for a surplus, or cannonading at the 
ramparts of luxury and ease. The rivers keep up 
their march to the ocean, the ocean is continually 
heaving its mighty weight of waters on the shore. 
The sun's heat is making light the vapors, these are 
ever ascending from the ends of the earth, while 
busy winds carry them all over the globe, and busy 
currents precipitate these, and they take up their 
march again for the sea. Busy ocean currents plow 
through every sea. Some of them have velocities 
much greater than any of our largest rivers. 

Above the rush of all these winds and waters we 
hear Solomon declare that he knows how the world 
was made and that he understands the attractions 
of the turnings; and David dispensing the great law 
of gravitation and declaring that the sun had a mo- 
tion which carries it and its retinue of worlds on 
journeys of which we can form no conception. Out 
of the whirlwind, a vehicle of double motion, we hear 
Him who made Orion and the seven stars bid Job an- 
swer him touching these motions that fill the earth. 
High above the din of battle we hear Joshua exclaim: 
"Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou, Moon, 
in the valley of Ajalon." Thus is affixed the divine 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 225 

seal to the motion of these worlds. Beyond these 
we see busy worlds waltzing to their own merry mu- 
sic. Their ceaseless and never-ending motions 
teach us the truth of the text that all things are full 
of labor and that the earth bears its share in the 
great cotillion of worlds. "It is a fine suggestion of 
Humboldt's that if we could imagine those move- 
ments of the stellar universe which take place in long 
periods to be compressed into a short space of time, 
and were we endowed with telescopic vision to be- 
hold them, we should then vividly realize that there 
is nowhere such a thing as rest. The stars, which 
we term fixed, would be seen all in motion, constel- 
lations drawing together, clusters unfolding and 
condensing, nebulae breaking up, and universes melt- 
ing away — motion in every part of the vault of heav- 
en. Could we then be permitted to gaze into the liv- 
ing organism upon earth, plant and animal, we 
should behold a kindred spectacle. The constituent 
atoms in ceaseless movement, combining and sepa- 
rating, group dissolving and rearranging, and all cir- 
culating in orderly and determined paths — move- 
ment in every point of the vital organism. Thus the 
motions of everlasting suns, shot in radiant forms 
across the universe, reappear in the movements of or- 
ganic beings. The unity of the scheme is unbroken; 
the harmonics of earthly life are but cadences of the 
music of the spheres." Nothing is truer than that 
all things are full of labor, that men can not tell it, 
that the eye can not be satisfied with seeing nor the 
ear filled with hearing. This brings us to consider 
the real and apparent motions of the sun and our 
earth and the many phenomena arising therefrom. 
15 



226 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Job xxxviii. 12-15: "Hast thou commanded the 
morning since thy days; and caused the dayspring to 
know his place; that it might take hold of the ends of 
the earth, that the wicked might be shaken out of it? 
It is turned as clay to the seal; and they stand as a 
garment. And from the wicked their light is with- 
holden, and the high arm shall be broken." 

Let us first reconcile this term "wicked" as used 
twice in this text. This chapter is made up exclu- 
sively of questions. In it are found no less than 
forty questions propounded to Job. Strange to say, 
not one addresses itself to the wicked. Stranger 
still, there is not one but that is either directly or in- 
directly discussed in the literary schools of our own 
country. The first question asks about morning, the 
first part of the day; the second clause follows with 
the source of day, dayspring or sun; the third and 
fourth clauses are the purposes of the sun, while the 
fifth explicitly defines how these purposes are ob- 
tained; the sixth gives the relation of sun and earth; 
the seventh makes itself one of light by state- 
ment. In the thirteenth verse — "that the wicked 
might be shaken out of the earth" — can any one see 
how the wicked only are to be shaken out? Has 
that ever been done? Four thousand years have 
passed, and over half the world remains till this day 
in wickedness. But we do see and know that under 
the above conditions and through the motions there 
defined darkness is dispelled from the earth. In the 
fifteenth verse we can not see how the light of the 
sun can be withholden from the wicked especially, 
but we know that under the above conditions only 
can the light be withheld from the darkness that 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 227 

gathers alternately about the poles of the earth. 
There are two lights in the world: physical, the sun, 
the center of the solar system; and Jesus Christ, the 
spiritual Sun and center of our religious system. 
"I am the light of the world." Did he mean phys- 
ical light of the world? Most assuredly not. We 
think that each of these lights is designed to teach 
the other. From the sun flow all earthlv blessings 
and comforts; its fruit is the harvest of all our bodily 
needs, and at the same time it feeds our senses with 
all the various designs of the beautiful, falling alike 
upon the just and upon the unjust. Our spiritual 
Sun showers its harvests upon us till our spiritual 
needs are met and till we become men, if we will, 
built up by all its mysterious forces. Wickedness 
is to the opposite of spiritual light precisely as dark- 
ness is to the opposite of physical light. 

Proverbs iv. 19 : "The way of the wicked is as dark- 
ness" — that is, the way of the one is brought about 
as the way of the other. If we are turned from the 
physical sun, we have night, are in darkness; so if 
we turn from the spiritual Sun, we are in spiritual 
darkness and are denominated "the wicked." If we 
speak of physical light, we call its opposite darkness; 
if of spiritual light, we term its opposite wickedness. 
Without question, the topic under consideration is 
one of physical light, light from a fixed sun, whose 
purposes are set forth in the text. More, the terra 
"darkness" substituted for "wicked" will do no in- 
justice to the word or thought, but will harmonize 
these and add beauty to this most wonderful geo- 
graphical dissertation touching earth motions, to- 
gether with all the geography and the philosophy 



228 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and the astronomy gathered from these and prized 
by the world as its highest fund of human knowl- 
edge. The text will then be : " Hast thou command- 
ed the morning since thy days; and caused the day- 
spring to know his place; that it might take hold of 
the ends of the earth, that the darkness might be 
shaken out of it? It is turned as clay to the seal; 
and they stand as a garment. And from the dark- 
ness their light is withholden, and the high arm shall 
be broken." This is no parable, no figure; is only 
spiritual so far as is the truth that God dispensed the 
sum of astronomical knowledge four thousand years 
before man conceived in his idle dreaming the least 
of the things told in the text. These are not broken 
passages, but one continuous argument by word and 
illustration, beginning where astronomers begin, 
making the same statements that they make, giving 
precisely the same illustrations as given by them, 
showing the same purposes and the same results, 
together with the exact how these purposes axe at- 
tained. 

We will examine the text in the order of its own 
divisions. The first clause introduces the subject as 
one of day and night. "Hast thou commanded the 
morning since thy days?" The second clause, the 
sun's place: "And caused the dayspring to know his 
place?" The third and fourth clauses are the pur- 
poses of the sun. The first purpose, that it [sun] 
might take hold of the ends of the earth;" second 
purpose, "that the darkness might be shaken out of 
it [earth]." The fifth clause tells how each of these 
purposes is brought about: "It [earth] is turned 
as clay to the seal." Each of these purposes is 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 229 

brought about by the same illustrative terms. In 
discussing this part of the text we will group these 
purposes separately with the manner of producing 
these separate designs. Then we will investigate 
this part thus: "That it [sun] might take hold of the 
ends of the earth." "It [earth] is turned as clay to 
the seal" — this the rotary motion of the earth. For 
the other motion, "That the darkness might be 
shaken out of it [earth], it is turned as cIslj to the 
seal." The sixth clause states the relation of earth 
to sun, motion, and rest, or the appearance to an ob- 
server on the earth as he watches the sun: "They 
stand as a garment." The seventh clause, motion of 
earth and sun through space: "And from the dark- 
ness their light is withholden, and the high arm shall 
be broken." In this arrangement of our topics we 
have given a general idea of the leading thoughts. 
We will follow with a strict word interpretation, 
and show that any other exposition of the above is 
impossible, and ours consistent. 

Day and Night. 

"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy 
days?" Morning is the first part of day, and follows 
close on the last part of night. So night is implied 
in terms as strong as those that signify opposite con- 
ditions or day. "Hast thou commanded?" addressed 
as it is to Job must impress his mind with the truth 
of his supreme littleness and the fact that a some- 
thing is able to exercise power or authority over the 
morning. "Command" literally means to send to, 
to send forth. These are the only literal meanings 
given by Mr. Webster. Then the morning is sent to, 



230 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and, secondly, the morning is sent f ortli. First, there 
is nothing truer than that the morning is steadily 
sent to the west every twenty-four hours, thus be- 
coming a measure of the days. Second, there is 
nothing truer than that the morning is sent forth, 
out, abroad, and becomes a measure of the years. 
These form the two motions of light over the earth. 
The first, " sent to," flies on around the earth winter 
and summer, remaining morning all the time. The 
sun is not sent round, but morning. This dispenses 
with sun motion as the cause of day and night. 
Morning comes upon us; in one minute it appears fif- 
teen miles west of us; in two minutes it is thirty 
miles to our west; in one hour it is gone from us by a 
distance of one thousand miles. So with every min- 
ute and hour during all the days and years the morn- 
ing is "sent to" the west, which accounts for the ap- 
parent motion of the sun from east to west while the 
morning is " sent to." It is, from December till June, 
sent forth, minute by minute climbing higher, min- 
ute by minute spreading out, till March, when day 
and night alternate during each revolution all over 
the globe. The sun now seems to rise a little south 
of east, and up he seems to climb higher, till June, 
when his light falls far beyond the north pole, and 
he is seen to our northeast. This is called, improp- 
erly, the sun's motion north. From June till Decem- 
ber he seems to move in a direction toward the south ; 
minute by minute as the days go by he sends his light 
in an opposite direction, till the sun in December is 
seen again far to our south, indicating the extent to 
which the morning is sent in that direction. This 
is called, improperly, the sun's motion south. The 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 231 

repetition of these light motions make the years as 
they go by. Thus the morning is " sent forth." 

The Sun's Place. 

"And caused the day spring to know his place/"' 
"Dayspring," the sun. The pronoun "his" makes it 
a masculine noun. Astronomers call it a luminous 
body, because it emits light. Job's Lord calls it by 
a term which illustrates its office and at the same 
time makes it a stationary thing. It is the source of 
light and heat as a spring is the source of water sup- 
ply. From it streams of light and heat pour forth 
into space in every direction. It is the world's never- 
failing fountain of light. The name illustrates all 
the needful and pleasing results afforded by the sun. 
It does this in its bounties which are so necessary to 
all life, animal and vegetable; it does this in the 
manner of its issuance from that body. There is in 
some respects a similarity of appearance. New- 
comb compares the sun's appearance to a plate of 
rice soup. YTillson's theory supposes that the sun 
is composed of a solid dark globe, surrounded by 
three atmospheres. The first is composed of a 
cloudy covering, possessing high reflecting power; 
the second is composed of an incandescent gas, and is 
the seat of the light and the heat of the sun; the 
third, or outer one, is transparent, like our atmos- 
phere. That the spots are but openings seen in these 
atmospheres, made by powerful upward currents. 
From these light and heat pour forth. Did you ever 
see a boili'ng spring? See the small white pebbles 
that cover the bottom ; see the smaller ones as they 
are borne upward by the rising current. I do not 



232 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

say tliat this lias the appearance of a plate of rice 
soup. I leave you to say whether or not the spring 
resembles in its appearance Newcomb's given ap- 
pearance of the sun. These outward currents of the 
spring pour through openings in the solid crust of 
the earth and flow off, unresisted, in every direction. 
Does this not resemble the issuance of light and heat 
from the sun? The illustration does not stop here. 
A spring is a fixed, stationary thing; we get its boun- 
ties by turning to it. So we get the light of the sun 
by turning to it. The whole earth, by the two mo- 
tions turning and moving, gets the light of the sun. 
The same is true in a moral sense. Jesus Christ is 
the Dayspring from on high; everywhere we hear the 
entreaty, "turn." The sinner turns to him for the 
waters of life, for light and immortality. 

"His place." The sun has a place, one that be- 
longs to him. Astronomers and geographers — the- 
orizing on the solar system, its motions, its light, and 
heat center, the seasons and years — first give the sun 
a special place, that he might do the things accredit- 
ed to him. Job's Lord does this, and makes this the 
central truth upon which hang the two mights found 
in the text: that he "might take hold of the ends of 
the earth" and that the "darkness might be shaken 
out of it [the earth] ." 

Let us see how much depends upon "his place." 
Astronomically, the first work to be done is to deter- 
mine the sun's place. When Kepler assumed the 
ellipse as the shape of planetary orbits, and had as- 
sumed the sun's place at the center, he followed the 
planet Mars in its course; but very soon there was a 
great discrepancy between the observed and com- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 233 

puted place as before. He assumed another hypoth- 
esis: he determined to place the sun at one of the 
foci of the ellipse, and once more hunted down the 
truth. For a whole year he traced the planet along 
the imaginary orbit, and it did not diverge. The 
truth was discovered at last, and Kepler announced 
his first great law: "planets revolve in ellipses, with 
the sun at one focus." a His place." This deter- 
mined, the mystery was solved. How important to 
determine the sun's place! How suggestive the in- 
terrogation made to Job ! There are two places, and 
only two, and these situated so nearly alike that we 
might say that there is in reality but one place for the 
sun in this area of many quadrillions of square miles 
where it could affect the two mights found in the 
text, and that "his place." It turns up that the 
stone of stumbling through all the ages becomes the 
chief of the corner for astronomical knowledge, laid, 
as sought and found by Kepler, the beginning of the 
corner. The finding of the sun's place cost him sev- 
enteen years of unremitting toil. The importance of 
this matter will be appreciated when we learn that 
the decision of the learned world is that "this was 
one of the greatest astronomical triumphs." Is it 
not strange that Kepler should begin his researches 
precisely where the great Lecturer began his discus- 
sion of earth motions? Something else depends on 
"his place." It is observed that planets do not move 
with equal velocities in different parts of their orbits. 
These varying velocities absolutely depend upon "his 
place." Kepler next set about to establish some law 
by which these varying velocities could be computed 
and the place of the planets determined. His re- 



234: THE PLUMB-LINE. 

searches led Mm to his second law: "A line connect- 
ing the center of the earth with the center of the sun 
passes over equal spaces in equal times." It affords 
a certain means for calculating the velocity and for 
locating the exact place of any planet. There is still 
another thought connected with "his place" in our 
discussion that makes it still interesting when we 
consider that it too is dependent upon "his place." 
It was found that certain relations existed between 
the times of the revolutions of the planets about the 
sun and their mean distance from that body. Again 
Kepler hunted it down, and gave us his third law: 
"The squares of the times of the revolutions of the 
planets about the sun are proportional to the cubes 
of their mean distances from the sun." Speaking of 
these laws, Mr. Steele says: "These constitute almost 
the sum of astronomical knowledge, and form one of 
the most precious conquests of the human mind." 
Before Kepler the world had its theories, some of 
them hundreds of years old. The sun either had 
been awarded no place or had not been found in "his 
place." Vain gazers had looked upon the earth as a 
center about which the sun and all the stars move. 
Kepler, finding "his place," moved the world's ob- 
servatory to it, and marked out planetary orbits with 
precision, computed their velocities, computed the 
times of their revolutions, and gave a law by which 
we are enabled to locate the planets. When he saw 
the secret and found the truth he exclaimed: "Noth- 
ing holds me; the die is cast; the book is written, to 
be read now or by posterity, I care not which. It 
may well wait a century for a reader, since God has 
waited six thousand vears for an observer." 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 235 

Reader, it does look like the sun rises and sets ; the 
earth seems to be the center around which all else 
revolves. That could not be, and the sun have a 
place. The world saw this deception, and deter- 
mined that these move about the sun in circles, and 
that the sun is situated in the center. This later 
conclusion was for a while accepted, and the theory 
accounted for on the ground that the circle was the 
most beautiful figure. Were this true, we would not 
attach so great importance to "his place," for then 
things would be just what they seem. But the fact 
that these move in elongated circles, with the sun 
stationed at one end, offers high reasons why it 
should be a leading question in Job's recitation. 
This is a peculiar place. In our opinion this ques- 
tion, its importance in researches along this line, its 
position in the discussion, give the very strongest 
proof of divine inspiration. In this matter, like all 
others, Gk)d has his way; those who find him in his 
way and work must come to his way. Had the world 
given the Bible that importance due to it from the 
time of the writing of the text, it would have saved 
itself a shameful record of its foolishness and the fol- 
ly of men for thousands of years, trying to go an- 
other way, subjecting all things to fancy, and impu- 
ting to it reason. I make this bold statement: that 
Kepler absolutely sought the answer to Job's ques- 
tion as though propounded to him. "Kepler, dost 
thou know the sun's place?" He was seventeen years 
answering this single question. More, every discov- 
ery along all the lines of our advancement has been 
reached in a manner and in terms, and dispensed in 
a manner and in terms, very similar to a Bible- 



236 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

suggested procedure and in Bible terms. Before we 
close this discussion we will present you with a Bible 
illustration drawn from the text, &nd demonstrate to 
your satisfaction each of the laws given by Kepler. 

'•Caused ... to know his place." "Caused 
calls his mind to the truth when given to him, and 
mine to it as now investigating, that a something 
was the cause that made the sun a to know his 
place." Then we live in a cause world, surrounded 
by causes that make suns know and hold their places. 
How logically are we led to the desired truth! Job, 
did you cause the sun to know his place? Were you 
the sun's teacher? Do you even know his place? 
Has he a place? These thoughts led to investiga- 
tion; investigation found "his place" under Kepler; 
while "cause to know" was reserved for Isaac New- 
ton. "Cause." Mr. Webster says that the root of 
this word coincides with that of castle, caste, etc., 
which expresses a driving, that which produces an 
effect. The effect here is "to know his place." Then 
from its own term we develop the truth that force 
taught the sun its place. This drops it into the lap 
of philosophy. Force impelled the sun to take his 
place; force holds him in his place with irresistible 
grasp. From effect we go to cause; this we call la„w. 
All matter is under law. It yields with such willing 
obedience that a sense of knowing is imputed to it. 
Here we have a globe a million times larger than our 
earth, held in his place, yet moving on, showing a 
childish obedience to every impulse, and that so 
promptly that his acts and motions say that he moves 
from an apprehended wish of that which controls. 
He does this with such a promptitude and such an 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 237 

exactness that we impute to him a knowledge of 
knowing his place as to position and his place as a 
worker, that he might do the things, the very things 
spoken of him in the text. Each planet that circles 
about him performs all its motions with a regularity 
and with such undeviating certainty that it seems 
endued with capacities of perception, of knowing its 
place. The very atoms that compose all matter, 
while too small to be seen by the most powerful 
glass, yet each, through the forces that drive it, is 
thus caused to know its place in all its diversified 
chemical unions. At one time we see these atoms 
rush into an embrace sweet and close, as if drawn by 
a fitful knowledge of experienced love. We see oth- 
ers, nitrogen and hydrogen, even in a receiver to- 
gether exemplifying a sense of bashfulness or cold 
sullenness, stand off like two pouting, timid children. 
But when caught up together in any substance they 
seem to become more affable and to form for each 
other an attachment powerful and strong; for the 
very instant that the substance is dissolved and they 
are liberated from this union, they then combine and 
form a product truly their own. This is so uniform, 
so certain, that a chemist knows the result that will 
be produced by a union of these elements before they 
are combined. He knows how these atoms will act; 
he operates with them as though they were intelli- 
gences. So potent is the thought that our chemists 
call it "chemical behavior." If these little atoms 
are caused to know their places, we must not wonder 
at a sense of knowledge being imputed to the great 
sun. We see it in all the wide field where forces are 
doing work. Could we instantly create matter and 



238 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

as instantly drop it from our hands, like the oldest 
forms, it would go straight to the ground. It would 
obey the law of gravitation as promptly as the oldest 
rock or metal. Matter will do the same thing under 
the same conditions and the same surroundings 
every time. Every change of conditions and sur- 
roundings will x>roduce corresponding changes in its 
acts. We watch this modification under the slight- 
est force or the slightest change of surroundings till 
we are persuaded that matter is, to say the least of it, 
semisentient, especially when we affix "caused to 
know." Scientists admit as much when speaking of 
the stars. "Those far-off lights seem full of meaning 
to us could we but read their holy message; they be- 
come real and sentient, and, like the soft eyes in 
pictures, look lovingly and inquiringly upon us. We 
come into communion with another life, and the soul 
asserts its immortality more strongly than ever be- 
fore." "The heavens declare the glory of God; and 
the firmament showeth his handiwork. Day unto 
day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth 
knowledge." We live surrounded by worlds of mat- 
ter, matter full of meaning, teaching, talking matter. 
These teach the great law of causation, which is the 
thought of God himself. "Caused to know his 
place" is the theme of the great singer in his sub- 
limest of' all songs. These definitions and explana- 
tions bring us now to consider the earth's daily mo- 
tion, or its motion on its own axis. We will first pre- 
sent you with the statements of geographers touch- 
ing these motions. We propose to show from our 
text all the statements presented by geographers 
pertaining to the earth. They teach that there are 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 239 

eight major planets stationed at different distances 
from the sun, and that these revolve each on its own 
axis, producing alternations of day and night, in 
many respects similar to ours; that the days and 
nights differ in length each from the others. Some 
have more light and heat than others. All differ in 
their seasons and the length of their years. They 
travel in different orbits, with different velocities. 
The sun's position relative to these makes these dif- 
ferences. That planet nearest the sun moves fast- 
est, has the smallest orbit, and consequently the 
shortest year. That planet most remote from the 
sun has the greatest orbit, moA'es slowest, and conse- 
quently has the longest year. This is due to a differ- 
ence in distance from the sun. The earth rotates on 
its axis from west to east, completing its revolution 
in twenty-four hours. When our eastern horizon is 
depressed below the sun we say that the sun is ri- 
sing; when we are wheeled directly under the sun we 
say that it is noon ; when our western horizon is be- 
ing elevated above the sun we say that the sun is 
setting. We thus attribute our motion to the sun, 
and say that it rises and sets. Let us illustrate this 
motion by the spinning of a top. Let us imagine the 
top as not standing perpendicularly on the floor, but 
slightly inclined. Make a spot on the side of the top, 
and if it does not revolve too rapidly you will ob- 
serve the spot moving into sight and as rapidly mov- 
ing out of sight as the top turns the spot to and from 
your eye. Now your eye was supposed to be in the 
sun's place. Suppose your eyes were fixed where the 
spot is and you could see the sun, you would experi- 
ence all the phenomena of a rising, a noonday, and a 



240 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

setting sun as the top turns your eye to, under, and 
from the sun. The United States is but a small spot 
on the globe. We imagine the globe standing on the 
south pole, leaning slightly as it spins round like our 
top. The United States oomes round, bringing the 
sun to our sight, and we say that the sun is rising; 
the earth moves on till we are brought directly under 
the sun, and we say that it is noon; the earth moves 
on, and as the sun is passing from our sight in the 
west we say that the sun is setting. These changes, 
you see, are brought about by earth-motion. This 
motion alone would make the sun appear to rise and 
set all the time precisely in the same place, and make 
our days and nights of the same length forever. The 
earth has another motion, one about the sun. This 
motion gives to the sun the appearance of moving 
north or south. In December the sun seems to rise 
far south of east and west points; till June, on each 
succeeding morning he seems to rise farther north 
than on the preceding morning, when his rays fall far 
north of east and west points. These are the bounds 
of his apparent movement. This sun-motion, like the 
first, is also a deception, and is due to the motion of 
the earth. These changing positions of the earth pro- 
duce corresponding changes in the length of our days 
and nights and in the temperature on the earth. 
These make our seasons. One cycle of changes is 
the measure of a year. The two purposes of lighting 
and heating the earth are, like the two motions, si- 
multaneous and continuous. So, when speaking of 
the heat ray the light ray is not to be neglected or 
forgotten, nor are we to neglect the heat ray when 
talking of the light ray. They come together. This 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 241 

brings us to consider the rotary motion of the earth, 
or its motion on its own axis, from revelation. When 
we have made this motion plain we will define each 
term used and show ours the only interpretation pos- 
sible. 

"It [the earth] is turned as clay to the seal." 
"Turn" has two meanings, and only two: to turn as 
a wheel, and circular motion. These correspond to 
the two motions of the light, sent to and sent forth. 
The first of these is the rotary motion of the earth, 
that motion that allows the light to be sent to the 
west, and the motion that we are now considering. 
The second is the other earth-motion, motion in a cir- 
cle, the one that allows the light to be sent forth or 
abroad, while it is being sent to the west at the same 
time. This motion we will consider presently. 
These two motions of the earth are simultaneous 
and continuous, warranted by the text. So, when 
considering its rotary motion, its circular motion is 
not to be forgotten or neglected, nor are we to forget 
or neglect its rotary motion while considering its 
circular motion. These two motions produce the 
changes of light and heat positions on the earth. 
"It [the earth] is turned." A positive declaration 
that the earth turns. More, it implies force, for the 
earth is purely passive. "It is turned." It does not 
turn, but is turned. And the very how is given in the 
simplest language, at the same time naming a very 
common instrument that will illustrate this how. 
"As clay to the seal." Or like clay to the seal. Seal 
is not the instrument, but the writing on that instru- 
ment. So it is not the turning of the clay, but the 
turning of the writing made on the clay by the seal. 
16 



24:2 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Then the earth is turned as the writing of a seal is 
turned when transferred to the clay, or the same 
transferred from the clay to the seal. Take a stick 
of printer's type, which is set up as the writing on a 
seal, get a piece of clay, and you are supplied with 
everything necessary for illustrating transfer of mo- 
tion as seen in the sun when compared to the earth. 
That motion of the sun, when transferred to the 
earth, transfers the turnings we see in the sun to the 
earth and makes it real earth-motion, as the writing 
of the seal is turned when the writing is transferred 
to the clay. Your clay is before us and also your 
stick of type. You observe that the letters of your 
type are inverted and turned about; you observe also 
that you read from right to left instead of from left 
to right. The whole presents a confusion, at least to 
one not experienced in reading type. Make an im- 
pression on the clay with your type; now the letters 
are all erect, and we read from left to right without 
any confusion. If the writing is turned as this mo- 
tion is transferred, then the direction in which this 
writing is read is the direction of this motion of the 
earth. Let us now apply our illustration to the ri- 
sing of the sun. We say that the sun rises. Let us 
prove, according to the statement made to Job, that 
the earth turns and produces the phenomenon of 
day. Let us set in type across the sun the clause, 
"It is turned," just as it would stand were we going 
to use it as a seal (see Sun, Fig. 1), arranging it as to 
coincide with the earth's equator when brought into 
contact with the earth. Examine this seal reading: 
the letters are inverted, the right side of each letter 
is turned to the left, and the left is turned to the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 243 

right; you read the clause from right to left, at the 
same time you feel a seuse of coufusiou. Apply 
now the earth to the sun as clay to the -seal, and the 
turning attributed to the sun will be as the turning 
of the clay to the seal. Job's Lord says that the earth 
is turned just this way. We said that it was the 
turning of the writing that illustrates the turns of 
the earth. Now the letters on the earth are erect, 
and are read from left to right or from west to east. 
Then the earth turns from west to east, that the 
morning may be "sent to" the west. In this reading 
there is no confusion. It is intelligible, and teaches 

Figure 1. 





EWTH.CLKY SUnJeAL 

o Observer's position. ITe is supposed to face north. 

real earth-motion and the direction of that motion. 
The confusion found in reading the seal writing 
illustrates that confusion that hid the real motion 
for four thousand years. This was the stone of 
stumbling through all the ages. All earth-motions, 
when compared to the sun or stars, are practically 
illustrated in this way. Star maps and the survey- 
or's common flat compass are examples. Even a 
map of the earth's surface partakes of this in a 
measure. In learning the cardinal points I am 
told to face the north; then my right hand will be 
toward the east and my left toward the west, and my 



244 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

back will be toward the south. My face takes a po- 
sition with reference to a star, north star, while my 
right hand, my left hand, and my back are but a spe- 
cies of seal writing coming from that star. I have a 
star map, and I wish to locate some particular star. 
If the star is in the north, I face the south; if the star 
is in the south, I face the north. Each time I elevate 
the star map above my head and look upward at it. 
The map is a seal; I place it above the thing to re- 
ceive the impression. A surveyor's compass is an 
instrument for guiding us along the lines of a survey 
or for marking new lines. The old line is traced and 
the new one determined with reference to the north 
star. Toward these our needles all point (variations 
excepted). Let us examine the compass. It has a 
shape similar to that of a seal. Its use resembles 
the use of a seal in that it makes an impression which 
is to the reverse of the writing on the compass. If I 
wish to trace a line anywhere between north and 
east, I set my compass with the star on the face to- 
ward the north and wait for the needle to come to a 
state of rest and pointing directly to the star. I 
turn the compass to the desired direction. When I 
look at my compass I see that I have turned toward 
W for west, instead of toward E for east. So the 
motion of the compass was just the opposite to the 
letters on its face. E is where the geographical west 
point should be, while W for west is where the geo- 
graphical east point should be. I elevate the com- 
pass above my head with its face downward and the 
star on the compass toward the north star, and each 
of the letters takes its geographical place. The com- 
pass would make it the motion of the star, applying 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 245 

it as seal to the clay or the line, and it becomes 
line turns east. Starting at the equator, I follow the 
needle till I have gone sixty miles; now the north 
star has risen one degree above the horizon ; when I 
have gone another sixty miles, I see this same star 
two degrees above the horizon. As I advance this 
star seems to rise higher and higher, till I stand di- 
rectly under it. My own motion made this star rise 
on me, as the earth's own motion makes the sun rise 
on it. No other illustration is so simple, so illustra- 
tive, nor any other apparatus so cheap. " It is turned 
as clay to the seal." It was this idea, and this alone, 
that carried Copernicus through his demonstration 
and afforded proof of the deceptiveness of this mo- 
tion. Then the rising and the setting of the sun are 
not due to sun-motions, but due to the motion of the 
earth, which is transferred in the same manner that 
a correctly written clause on the earth would appear 
on this sun were it printed there from this earth 
writing as a seal. This brings us to consider the 
first purpose of this turning as clay to the seal. 

a That it [the sun] might take hold of the ends of 
the earth." Then the earth is turned as clay to the 
seal, that the sun might take hold of its ends. 

a The ends of the earth." The equator is an imag- 
inary line passing around the earth from east to west 
midway between the poles. This line marks the cen- 
ter of the torrid zone. The northern limit of this 
zone is twenty-three and one-half degrees north of 
the equator, and is marked by the Tropic of Cancer. 
The southern limit is twenty-three and one-half de- 
grees south of the equator, and is marked by the 
Tropic of Capricorn. The sun never rises north of 



246 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Cancer or south of Capricorn. Geographers say that 
the sun always rises and sets within these bounds; 
that the sun holds to this region amid all the changes 
of the earth. It only remains for us to show that 
this region marks the bounds of the ends of the earth. 
First, it is a literal truth. Within these bounds lie 
the northern end of Australia, the southern end of 
Eurasia, the northern end of Africa, the southern 
end of North America, the northern end of South 
America, and the numerous islands of the Pacific; or 
the southern end of the eastern hemisphere and also 
the southern end of the western hemisphere. The 
former shows that one end of each individual land 
mass was in these bounds; the latter form, indeed, 
the ends of the great land masses of the earth. "That 
it might take hold of the ends of the earth." No 
sun ever rose north nor ever set south of these ends. 
Secondly, it is a geometrical truth. The extremity of 
the longer side of a thing we call its end ; the length 
of its shorter side we call its breadth. The equato- 
rial diameter of the earth is twenty-six and a half 
miles longer than its polar diameter. Then the ex- 
tremity of its longer diameter must mark one end of 
the earth, while the extremity of the shorter diame- 
ter must mark the breadth. The earth is rather tur- 
nip-shaped, with the torrid zone along the bulge. 
The expression says "ends." Three hundred and 
sixty degrees make a great circle; the equator is de- 
fined as such a circle. If we allow one diameter for 
each degree along this great circle, the earth would 
present to the sun the ends of three hundred and six- 
ty diameters each twenty-four hours. Allow it a di- 
ameter for each two minutes of longitude, each 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 247 

twenty-four liours the earth would present to the sun 
over ten thousand ends. Proverbs xxx. 4: "Who 
hath established all the ends of the earth ?" They 
are many. Thirdly, it is philosophically located by 
l>ible statement. Psalm cxxxv. 7: "He causeth the 
vapors to ascend from the ends of the earth." One 
end of each of the great land masses contributes its 
influence to this result. David uses a term express- 
ive of plurality, "ends/' and locates them with a pre- 
cision that no geographer can excel; and his state- 
ment is an example of the truth that the sun does 
take hold here. Job xxviii. 24-26: "For he looketh to 
the ends of the earth, and seeth under the whole heav- 
en; to make the weight for the winds; and he weigh- 
eth the waters by measure. When he made a decree 
for the rain, and a way for the lightning of the thun- 
der." "He looketh to the ends of the earth.'' He ex- 
pects this part of the earth to make the weight for the 
wunds. It is true that the ends of the earth are the 
birthplace of the winds, the source of that general 
circulation that blows all over the globe. It is also 
true that one end of all the great land masses con- 
tributes to this result. This process began when he 
made a decree for the rain and a w T ay for the light- 
ning of the thunder. Along this line of central 
stoves there is no frost, no snow, no ice, except in 
high, elevated regions or from other local causes. 
Here the heat does its work of sending up the vapors, 
and by the same act invites the winds to scatter them 
over the earth. Had David said that the vapors as- 
cend from the torrid zone, or Job that he expects the 
torrid zone to make the weight for the winds, it could 
not have been more explicit. 



248 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

"Might take hold." "That it [the sun] might take 
hold of the ends of the earth [the torrid zone]." We 
have shown you that the sun rises and sets contin- 
ually within these bounds. Then, aside from other 
proof, the text affords sufficient proof that the torrid 
zone is the hounds of sun-motion, for the part held to 
by the sun is this zone, whether called ends or not. 
This is the sun's astronomical position. The sun 
w T as caused to know his place for this, as the first of 
two purposes mentioned in the text. Let us now see 
how this act of taking hold is philosophically exe- 
cuted. "The molecules of the sun are in rapid vi- 
brations; these set in motion waves of ether, which 
dart across the intervening space with the velocity 
of light, and, surging against the earth, give up their 
motion to it, the earth. These surging waves, ar- 
rested by the surface of the earth, their motion is 
converted into heat. Pounding on the end of a 
wedge with a maul makes the end of the wedge 
warm. This warmth is the product arising from the 
motion of the maul being instantly arrested by the 
wedge or the motion of the maul setting up motion 
in the wedge. Bend a wire rapidly this way and 
that to break it, and the resistance to its moving par- 
ticles produces heat enough to burn the hand. Heat 
is the parent of motion and vice versa. Resistance is 
the enemy of motion, but the parent of heat. The 
surface of the earth offers the resistance. Here the 
ethereal motion sets up motion, and here the earth 
literally takes hold of this motion and arrests it. If 
it is the motion of the sun coming to the earth and 
establishing that motion in the earth, then the earth 
literally takes hold of the sun. "Take" and "hold" 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 249 

means to stay. In the torrid zone it is always hot. 
The reason offered is that the sunbeams fall perpen- 
dicularly on this region all the year. The sun was 
caused to know his place that it might take hold of 
the ends of the earth — that is, the ends of the sums 
central diameters might meet the ends of the earth's 
central diameters, that, like the motions of the maul 
on the wedge, these solar strokes, falling perpendic- 
ularly all the year, would make the heat of the sun 
hold to the ends. The bounds of continuous heat are 
limited to the ends. Then the conclusion is that it 
does not stay in other regions as it does here. 

"Might take hold." "Might." The leading idea 
of this verb is power or possibility. If the peculiar- 
ity of the sun's place is to afford the sun a possibility 
to do the things accredited to him in specified 
bounds, then we conclude that from no other position 
could the sun possibly give us the days and nights, 
the seasons and zones, such as we now have. "It 
[the earth] is turned as clay to the seal," "that it 
[the sun] might take hold of the ends of the earth." 
Now the turning of the earth is such that it might 
present its equatorial diameters to the sun; then it 
must turn these diameters in a way that the sun 
might reach them, for he can not move, he has a 
place. As he takes hold only along the line of these 
central diameters and through the motions of these 
diameters, then the earth turns to the sun to pro- 
duce day and from it to make night. There is a lib- 
eral interpretation that we offer. 

"That it might take and hold." The spectrum ex- 
hibits three classes of rays: heat, luminous, and 
chemical rays. These rays during all the ages have 



250 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

been falling on the earth. They have played a very 
important part in working the changes found in the 
earth. They tear down and build up, they destroy 
and make alive. Traces of their first work remain 
to this day. Not one sunbeam has ever fallen upon 
the earth and returned to the sun or stars. Its form 
may be modified. A sunbeam may be a worker in 
the torrid zone to-day, sending up vapor; this, 
wrapped in the crystal spray, on the wind rides and 
flies, it may be, to some fertile valley, some elevated 
plain, or some chilled mountain top, there throws oif 
its garment to bless the valley, enliven the plain, or 
cap the mountain with snow; then enters another 
field of labor. Its cycle will only end with the 
death of terrestrial motions. "Geologists count the 
world's growth from remains that were built up 
from these forces. In the laboratory of the leaf, for- 
ests were built up, sun-forces garnered. These car- 
ried their mines of reserved force to the earth. Coal 
is but crystallized sunbeams, fagots of force ready to 
impart to us at any moment the heat of some old car- 
boniferous day. The oil-well spouts not alone un- 
savory kerosene, but liquid sunbeams, the garnered 
store of a geological age. As we warm ourselves by 
our fires or sit and read by our oil or gas lights, 
how strange the thought that their light and heat 
streamed down upon the earth ages ago, were ab- 
sorbed by grotesque leaves of the old coal forests, 
and kept safely stored away by a divine care in order 
to provide for our comfort!" 

"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy 
days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; 
that it might take hold of the ends of the earth? . . . 



THE rLUMB-LINE. 251 

It is turned as clay to the seal." The real motion of 
the clay (earth) is transferred to the seal (sun), and 
there it is truly apparent motion. 

Note. — "It Is turned." If the letters of these three word3 
should stand on the sunbeams as they would on a seal, inverted, 
and the words transposed ; then they would fall with the same 
significance on each of the planets alike, and each would inter- 
pret this reading as clay to the seal. Now there are ten planets. 
So there are ten letters in these three words. These three words 
make a complete sentence. It is used with an obvious antece- 
dent : each of the planets as addressed by the sun becomes sub- 
ject. Thus in our written language we have a system of words 
representing our solar system. More, this system becomes an 
illustration of its motions, the direction of these motions, the 
combination of its parts, their relations, the unlikes that made 
them into bulks, and the attractive influences that hold them 
to one common thought, or purpose, as manifested by similarity 
in every respect. Out of the eight letters composing the words 
" is turned " five are initial letters for five of the planets : i and s, 
for Mercury (the Greeks called it "The Sparkling One"); e, 
for Earth; s, Saturn; u, Uranus; n, Neptune. 

Yeaely Path oe the Sun theough the Heavens. 

We hope you will observe the potency of this trans- 
fer of motion as expressed both by Copernicus and 
Job and as manifested in the heading given above. 
It is not meant to discuss here the yearly path of the 
sun through the heavens. Astronomers do not know 
which way this great movement is directed, nor do 
they know the center about which this movement is 
made. It is the yearly path of the earth through the 
heavens that we intend talking about. Geographers 
head this topic in the same way, and then they make 
their demonstrations and illustrations say that the 
earth is the moving body. This is the result of that 



252 THE PLUXB-LINE. 

peculiar manifestation of motion seen in the sun and 
stars. Wonderful, wonderful the expression "it is 
turned as clay to the seal!" By it the mystery that 
shrouded these motions is made childishly simple. 
There is another correspondence that revelation ob- 
served — that is, the order in which these topics are 
discussed. Geographers discuss first the daily mo- 
tion and then the yearly motion of the earth, and 
that in the same chapter; and by the use of the same 
illustration is each motion demonstrated. Revela- 
tion does not vary from this in the least. These il- 
lustrations show and mean precisely the same thing. 
Copernicus tells how this motion is, and tells how 
the deception is brought about. Job tells the same, 
and makes the very statement an illustration, and 
the only illustration possible for the story of Coper- 
nicus. By no other method is it possible to paint 
transfer of motion save by the seal and clay. It is 
said that our Bible has no science in it, no terms ex- 
pressive of scientific thought. Let us see. These 
motions of which we are talking engaged the minds 
of Copernicus, Kepler, Galileo, and Newton. Touch- 
ing this thought, Mr. Steele, in speaking of the laws 
Kepler evolved from these motions, says : "They form 
one of the most precious conquests of the human 
mind." Now we have the statements of each, we 
have the illustrations of each, we have a full under- 
standing of the facts as given by each. Now aline 
Job along with these learned men above, place each 
back to back with Job. Then tell me, on the honor 
of a man, which is the taller. You can't deny the 
fact that you see in Job the look of Goliah, while in 
his hand you see the sling of David. No science in 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 253 

the Bible? Bosh! It is the mother of science; it is 
the father of science; it is a compendium of all 
learning, all knowledge, all wisdom crystallized. If 
Copernicus can use an illustration to show that the 
motion of the sun is only apparent, that it is a decep- 
tion, that the earth simply revolves on its own axis to 
produce day and night, and then use the same illus- 
tration to show its yearly motions about the sun, 
and make us say that instead of the sun moving 
north and south, as it certainly appears to do in sum- 
mer and winter, the earth simply moves back and 
forth around it — if, I say, Copernicus can do this, 
then we feel authorized by scientific example to say 
that the course laid down to Job is no departure. It 
is more satisfactory, since the same thought is to be 
illustrated, and no new applications. This brings us 
to consider the second division of our text, the mo- 
tion of the earth about the sun. 

"Hast thou commanded the morning since thy 
days; and caused the dayspring to know his place; 
. . . that the darkness might be shaken out of it? 
It is turned as clay to the seal." 

The first object was the presentation of its ends to 
the sun to produce day and night. While this mo- 
tion is continuous, another motion is added that dots 
in no way change the direction of these ends. Hav- 
ing defined all the terms used in the text, except 
"shake," we propose to examine it at this time. 

"Shake." This is a household word. Tt finds its 
use in every family circle throughout the English- 
speaking world, from the five-year-old child to the 
aged man or woman, each alike. While every one 
might not be able to give Mr. Webster's definition, 



251 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

yet each can do more: he can illustrate it. Curious 
to say, each will give the same illustration. Hand 
a child something to be shaken. This should be done 
in a way that the child realizes a necessity or that he 
should not think it a joke or quiz. Hand him a small 
bottle (the smaller the better) containing a liquid, 
and ask him to shake it for you. Observe closely the 
motion of his hand. Take the bottle and shake it 
yourself, and as you shake it watch very closely the 
motion of your hand. When you have done, draw on 
paper the figure described by the moving hand, and 
you will have evidently the picture of a "shake." 
Let us now compare Mr. Webster's definition of this 
word to the picture of your shake and the manner 
of making it, and see how nicely you have illustrated 
its meaning. "Shake, to cause to move rapidly one 
way, then another." This term was used to illus- 
trate to Job how the earth moved to rid itself of 
darkness. Now we have two motions: one way, then 
another. It takes both to get the darkness out. 
"One way;" this gets the darkness out, but must do 
more, or the motion, "then another," would not be 
necessary. "One way" relieves the darkness at one 
quarter, but admits it to the opposite quarter. "Then 
another" relieves the earth of darkness, and then the 
former opposite quarters have exchanged light and 
darkness. The definition justifies our expression, 
"opposite quarters." Darkness participates in the 
shake, as it also moves back and forth. The limit of 
"one way" is the limit to the greatest light in one 
quarter, while the limit of "then another" must be 
the limit of the greatest light in that other quarter. 
As the shake was a chase after darkness, then in 



THE PLUMB-LIKE. 255 

truth the greatest darkness must be always to the 
greatest limit opposite the greatest light. If this 
earth-motion "one way' 7 be its motion north, "then 
another" must be its earth-motion south. If one be 
its motion east, then the other must be its motion 
west. Mr. Webster prefixes "caused to move." The 
sun was caused to know his place for purposes. Now 
the earth is caused to move rapidly one way, then an- 
other, to accomplish the very purposes for which the 
sun was fixed. Then which moves? Let us now 
speak of the three rays of the sunbeam. In the 
earth's lesser motion we spoke of the heat ray and 
those rays that produce the changes in matter and 
are termed chemical rays. Now we speak of the 
light ray, a thing that does not stay, a thing very un- 
stable, that comes and goes with a shake. In the 
first we looked at the heat and chemical rays apart, 
as presented, yet a combination. The combination 
is manifest by "that it [sun] might take hold" — all 
the virtues of a sun. The same may be said of the 
light ray. While it is a part of the combination, we 
here consider it apart from the others. "That the 
darkness might be shaken out of the earth." not the 
ends only, but the whole earth. (See Fig. 2.) 

The observer sees the sun rise far to the southeast 
December 20. At this time the center of the sun is 
in a line with the tropic of Capricorn and the center 
of the earth. Each morning the sun seems to rise a 
trifle farther toward the earth's north pole. The 
cause of this apparent sun motion is a real motion of 
the earth toward its own south pole. This apparent 
motion of the sun, the real motion of the earth, con- 
tinues till the sun has apparently moved from A to B, 



256 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 



its position June 21. Now a line connecting the cen- 
ter of the sun and the center of the earth passes 
through the tropic of Cancer. During these six 
months the sun has never risen south of Capricorn 
or north of Cancer — a proof that during this half of 
the year the sun's center falls continuously upon the 
earth's center and takes hold of its ends. From June 
2i the observer watching the setting sun sees it at C, 
far to the northwest; each evening he sees the sun 
set a trifle farther toward the earth's south pole. 
This apparent sun-motion is due to a real motion of 



Figure 2. 




^o-V, 'bea, 



o Observer's position. The center of the sun from its oppo- 
site position ever holds to this point. 

the earth toward its own north pole. This continues 
till the sun is seen far to the southwest December 20, 
never setting north of Cancer or south of Capricorn. 
This completes the earth's yearly journey about the 
sun. These sun-motions are due to earth-motion in 
an opposite direction to the sun's apparent motion. 
In winter we have all noticed that the sun seems to 
rise and set low in the south (see Fig. 2, sun's position 
December 20), considerably south of east and west 
points. As spring and summer advance he seems to 



THE PLUME-LINE. 257 

rise higher and higher, or farther north, each morn- 
ing, till he reaches the sun's position June 21 (see Fig. 
2), when his rajs fall on the north side of our dwell- 
ings or north of east and west points. This motion 
of the sun north is only apparent; the real motion of 
the earth south produces this deception. This mo- 
tion can be justly interpreted only as the writing on 
the seal to its impression in the clay. Copernicus 
transferred this motion of the sun to the earth, and 
termed it " transfer of motion." Such is the explana- 
tion given by the learned world to-day. Let us apply 
Job's method and see if we can not prove the decep- 
tiveness of this motion equally as well, and at the 
same time prove the very direction of this motion, 
and offer a simple illustration, one easily under- 
stood, easily retained. In our first illustration we 
showed the earth's movement on its own axis with 
reference to its east and west points. Now we talk 
of the earth's great motion about the sun, its mo- 
tion north or south, with reference to a fixed sun. 
In other words, we are illustrating the sun's ap- 
parent motion north. We now look upon this ma- 
chine as we would a map, and see just what we 
mean when we say that the sun moves north or 
south. When we say that the sun moves north we 
mean that it appears to move in the direction of 
the earth's north pole, and when we say that the sun 
moves south we mean that it appears to move in the 
direction of the earth's south pole. So with all our 
illustrations. First let us suppose it to be the 20 th 
day of December, and we see the sun in the east, as 
shown in Figure 2. From this point the sun, as we 
say, begins to move north. (See Fig. 3.) Let us set 
17 



258 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 



in type along the ends of those sunbeams that come 
to the earth our clause "it is turned/' just as the let- 
ters would stand when affixed to a seal. As the 
earth passes under each of these letters, each leaves 
its impression on the earth till "It is turned" occurs 
across the torrid zone as you see in Figure 3. This 
shows that the motion of the earth was such as to 
depress its south pole. Then, instead of the sun 
moving north, the earth simply moves south. "That 

Figure 3. 



^~^^= 





Dec.2J 

The earth rotates on its axis from west to east. This is indi- 
cated by the correct reading along the earth's equator. The 
earth's motion about the sun is also from west to east. This is 
indicated by correct reading across the Torrid Zone from south- 
west to northeast. The impressions of these words, we suppose, 
were made on the earth from the seal-writing as seen on the 
sun and also on the sunbeams that fall on the earth's orbit. 

the darkness might be shaken out of it [earth].'' 
"It is turned as clay to the seal." Now the earth 
has moved "one way." At this point (Fig. 4) the 
earth begins, "then another way," to complete the 
shake. Now you see the darkness is at the south 
pole and light at the north pole. The relation of 
earth and sun is just the reverse of that seen Decem- 
ber 20. The earth, in reality, begins to move north, 
that the darkness might be shaken out of it. The 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 



259 



earth returns to the beginning, passing on an oppo- 
site side of the sun. D marks the sun's center on 
the earth; so in reverse order each letter in turn as 
it passes the sun's center on till the earth comes 
back to her position December 21. The same visible 
finger as seen in the direction of the reading is an 
index to its motion; thus the earth moves back as 
before. "To cause to move rapidly one way, then 
another." This can not refer to points in space 

Figrure 4. 





June 20 

The earth has now reached her greatest distance from the 
sun, and at this point turns to retrace her steps. Should we 
drop each letter from the earth as the sun's center reaches it, 
we observe that the letters would be dropped in reverse order 
to that which was observed in placing them in position, and the 
journey would end at the beginning, and all the letters be 
dropped. 

so directly as to a central something about, which 
this movement is made. How beautifully does this 
account for the apparent motions of the sun, and 
how truthfully do they award these to the earth! 
"To cause to move rapidly one way, then another/' 
The earth moves at a mean velocity of eighteen 
miles per second, many times faster than a cannon- 
ball travels. So we are given an idea of its ve- 
locity by the text. Let us now illustrate the three 



260 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

laws of Kepler. We will begin by presenting you 
with a picture of your shake. If the earth travels 
the line of a shake in its rapidly moving one way, 
then another, then its orbit will be an ellipse as your 
shake is, and the moving force appear as marked by 
the sun, not the center. 

Let us now present you with a Bible text that will 
fully and simply place before you a shake, that you 

Figure 5. Figure 6. 





/ 



SHAKE. THIS YOUR SHAKE. 

Isaiah x. 15: "Shall the saw magnify itself against him that 
shaketh it?" This is an illustration so simple that no cut or 
engraving can improve. See the motion of the saw in the hand 
of him that shaketh it. The motion is back and forth, and the 
figure elliptical, unmistakably seen in the moving hand. The 
above illustration represents Mr. Webster's definition of a shake. 
We, without an illustration, lay by it a practical example of this 
shake given by Isaiah, 

may see what it is and how made, together with the 
figure described by the thing being shaken; and 
more, that you may see just what a Bible meaning of 
the word is. Isaiah x. 15: "Shall the saw magnify 
itself against him that shaketh it?" We have a saw 
in hand; we place the opposite end, or near that end, 
of the saw on the timber to be sawn. We push the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 2G1 

saw from us, it cuts more and more as we approach 
some point; from this point, not from the center, it 
cuts less and less. Or we will say that at some point 
between the beginning and the ending of the stroke 
a maximum of work is done. To this point the de- 
scent of the saw is gradual and uniform; from it the 
ascent is equally so. This point, perhaps, is nearer 
the hand. Then the saw is lightly lifted, not de- 
signed to cut, and brought back to the beginning, 
thus completing an ellipse. So back and forth the 
saw moves rapidly. The power is applied at the han- 
dle, does work at the points of the teeth. The plane 
of the ellipse made by the saw is parallel to the blade 
of the saw. Now take the set of the saw-teeth, and 
you can measure their inclination to this ellipse, 
or, which is the same, measure their departure from 
the perpendicular saw-blade. The motion of the 
saw will vary so uniformly that its very sound as 
it flies back and forth enables one skilled in its use 
to locate or determine at any time just where in 
this ellipse the saw is, whether going or coming. 
To the sawyer there are points of less labor and of 
more labor; these occur uniformly in the same parts 
every time. It also has at regular intervals an in- 
creased or decreased velocity. Watch the motion of 
the sawyer's hand as it flies back and forth, and you 
will have a figure of the earth's orbit, an ellipse. 
This also illustrates Kepler's first law: "Planets re- 
volve in ellipses with the sun at one focus." Let us 
make the shake according to directions, and then so 
picture it as to include the hand and arm; one is the 
thing shaken, while the other is the force or that 
which causes the hand to move rapidly back and 



262 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

forth. (See Fig. 6.) Stand up and take a pencil in 
your right hand, letting one end extend a little 
above the clinched fist, while the other extends be- 
low. The fist will represent the earth, the ends of 
the pencil its poles.* Put out your hand, just as you 
would were you going to shake the pencil. There! 
you see that your pencil is not perpendicular to the 
floor, but inclined. I leave you to estimate at what 
angle; measure and see. Now say, on the honor of a 
man, is the pencil inclined more or less than twenty- 
three and one-half degrees from a perpendicular? 
Astronomers call this the obliquity of the ecliptic. 
Let us now locate the moving force. This is at or 
about the elbow. Now as we make this shake watch 
the pencil and see if it does not remain parallel to 
itself during each shake. Notice the direction of the 
fist. See if it does not uniformly vary its velocity 
in different parts of the ellipse. Notice also the rela- 
tion that the elbow, the location of the moving force, 
sustains to the plane of the ellipse, and you will ob- 
serve also that the hand does not move in lines par- 
allel to the floor, but gradually rises in one part of its 
orbit and as gradually descends in the opposite part. 

* If the pencil represents the earth, the thumb and four fin- 
gers the five outer planets; the thumb is Mars; space between 
thumb and first finger, position of planetoids; first finger, Jupi- 
ter; middle ringer, Saturn; ring finger, Uranus; little finger, 
Neptune ; or clinched fist represents the earth, the flat circular 
spaces on top the fist, the north polar region. The space below, 
the south polar region, while the four fingers represent the 
two temperate and the two torrid zones. The line of the lower 
edge of the little finger, the antarctic circle; the little and the 
ring finger, tropic of Capricorn; the middle space the equator; 
the space between second and first finger, the tropic of Cancer; 
the upper line of the first finger and the thumb, the arctic circle. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 263 

Now make jour shake vigorously; uiOTe the fist rap- 
idly back and forth. Did you notice that when 
the hand came to C it swept so hurriedly around 
that the increased motion caused the hand to artic- 
ulate with the wrist, bringing the hand nearer the el- 
bow at this point than at any other? If the shake be 
made with the left hand, it will only reverse the mo- 
tion and change the location of the force to the oppo- 
site focus of the ellipse. These answer the two po- 
sitions, the only positions the sun can have to give 
us the days and seasons such as we have. Let us 
now point out the features of your shake that are so 
strikingly similar to those made by the earth in its 
motion about the sun. The inclination of the pencil 
was about that maintained by the earth's axis, and is 
called the inclination of the earth's axis. The elbow, 
or moving force, was situated nearer one end of your 
ellipse. This is true of the sun, and is termed one 
focus, or the sun's place. As the hand swept around 
the pencil remained parallel to itself in every part 
of the ellipse. This is true of the earth, and is 
termed parallelism of the axis. The fist changed its 
direction at every point; the earth does the same. 
You observe that the hand did not travel with uni- 
form velocity throughout, but in some parts faster, 
while in others it traveled slower. There was a 
constant uniformity in this particular. Where the 
hand traveled slowest it will ever do the same as it 
comes to this part of the ellipse. Where it traveled 
fastest it will ever do the same with each repetition. 
The earth does the same. The hand did not move in 
the same plane, but gradually rose in one part and as 
gradually descended in the other. The earth does 



264 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the same. These latter are called nodes. The artic- 
ulation of the wrist brought the fist nearer the mov- 
ing force at one end of the ellipse. The earth at the 
same point in its orbit is brought with greatly in- 
creased rapidity nearest the sun. This is termed its 
perihelion distance. At the beginning of the shake 
the arm was extended; then the fist was at its great- 
est distance from the moving force. So the earth at 
the same point in its orbit, June 20, is at its greatest 
distance from the sun. This is termed its aphelion 
distance. A line from the center of the force at the 
elbow, were it light and heat, will rise and fall on the 
pencil or fist, and the fist will experience all the 
changes of light and heat that the earth does in its 
motion about the sun. (Compare Figs. 6 and 7.) Let 
us now compare the changing velocity of the fist to 
that of the earth in a similar part of its orbit. From 
A the earth starts slowly, increasing in velocity till 
B is passed, when its motion is partly against grav- 
ity or sun attraction; this has a tendency to check its 
motion. At C, or near C, the centrifugal and centrip- 
etal forces balance, and the earth turns more to- 
ward the sun, then shoots off with increasing veloc- 
ity. To this point the earth has been rising, when 
now the center of the sun falls on Capricorn, far 
south of the equator. Let us now follow the hand 
this far. The hand, starting at A, moves more slow- 
ly here than at any other points along the shake. It 
increases, as you perceive, till B is passed; it slack- 
ens as it approaches the point of articulation, or C; 
as this point is reached the hand comes around with 
a jerk, and starts back with greatly increased veloc- 
ity. All this time the hand has moved gently up- 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 
Figure 7. 

• JUN£ 20. 



2C5 



\-A 



--\ 



V\ 



or 




og ?3<r 



Figure 7 beautifully and truly illustrates the apparent 
northward and southward motions of the sun, and shows con- 
clusively that this motion is due to real earth-motions and in 



2G6 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

an opposite direction to that awarded the sun. A backward 
reading on the seal, a correct reading when applied to the clay. 
It not only illustrates the above, but it will enable us to deter- 
mine at any time the earth's position in its orbit, and the exact 
time of sun-rising for any day in the year. December 20 the 
sun rises and sets with its center directly over the tropic of 
Capricorn, 27° 27' south of the equator. It never rises or sets 
south of this line. From this point it begins its apparent 
northward journey, and continuos it till June 20. During this 
time six months have passed and the earth has moved over 
one hundred and eighty degrees of its orbit, and the sun's cen- 
ter has appeared to move over forty-seven degrees, or across 
the torrid zone, the ends of the earth. Had we set up a line 
of stakes December 20 marking the direction of the sun-rising 
of that day, and for each twenty days thereafter had arranged 
a new line marking its position when rising, on till June 20, 
each of these lines of stakes will give the earth's position in its 
orbit for each twenty degrees. And had we arranged our line 
of stakes across the torrid zone, between each would have been 
five and two-ninths degrees of latitude. We can dispense with 
the stakes. If we will keep Job's seal and his sentence in our 
minds, the individual letters will answer as stakes, and we will 
be able to determine any or all the questions pertaining to 
earth-motions, whether it be its daily or yearly motion. We 
can determine questions pertaining to its light and heat. More, 
the time will come when from this seal-writing of Job's, the 
sun's direction, the distant center about which it moves, and 
the period of its year will be told. The seal-writing around 
the sun's disk and along its equator are the letters of the sen- 
tence from which the true motion is to be found. The letters 
of this sentence are arranged with reference to east and west 
points as the sun's daily risings and sittings are noted here. 
We place these letters as they would occur when fixed in a 
seal. You observe that our sun resembles the picture of a seal. 
The letters on the sunbeam are projections of the letters of the 
seal; and each is thrown out and appears on a line that con- 
nects the centers of the earth and the sun. From these as our 
stakes, we propose to explain the real motion of the earth, 
and the direction of that motion about the sun. The truth 
sought here, as in the daily motion, is found between the seal 



THE PLUMC-LINE. 2G7 

and its impression. It is the hows and whys of the turnings 
found when we compare the letters, their arrangement, the di- 
rection of the reading of this combination that makes the seal, 
to the letters, their arrangement, and the direction of the read- 
ing of the combination found in the impression. December 20 
the sun's central ray falls on Capricorn. Our first stake is I. 
This is thrown out on the sunbeam and falls on Capricorn. 
When the earth has moved twenty degrees along its orbit, we 
come to T. This is projected by the sunbeam till it appears 
as though coming from the sun's center it falls five and two- 
ninths degrees north of I, our beginning-stake. Now this 
stake would not fall north of the previous one, unless the sun 
moves north or the earth moves south. From T the earth 
moves twenty degrees, when I appears as though coming from 
the sun's center, and makes its impression five and two-ninths 
degrees north of T. Where is this motion? Again the earth 
moves forward twenty degrees, and we reach " S," our fourth 
stake ; it leaves its impression on the earth, as the previous 
ones, five and two-ninths degrees north of I. Twenty degrees 
more, and T is reached, and half the letters that make the 
words of the seal are passed. This, you observe, makes its im- 
pression, allowing the same interval as before, within half a 
space of the earth's center, or near the equinox. Now we know 
that when the earth moves forward ten degrees or within about 
ten days, the equinox occurs. The earth moves on as before 
till the remaining letters (stakes) are passed, and their impres- 
sions left upon the earth or till June 20. 

We have said the direction of the reading made upon the 
earth by this sun-seal was the true direction of the motion ; 
that the impression was always on the thing that moved. The 
impression is the only intelligible truth. Now we have, " It is 
turned," written on the earth and along that line, which con- 
nects earth and sun centers, below or above which the sun nev- 
er rises or sets, exemplifying the truth that the sun takes hold 
of the ends, and only the ends, of the earth. 

The earth holds out the statement that " it is turned." Now 
this is written from southwest to northeast, exemplifying the 
truth that this motion of the earth about the sun is eastward. 
The first stake was set in the southwest, and each north of the 
other till the last one was set in the northeast. Then to deposit 



268 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

these letters each north of the preceding ones, the earth must 
have moved down an incline, thus depressing the south pole 
below the point when at I, the beginning. To this point the 
letters have been deposited singly and at regular intervals. 
This illustrates the truth that the earth at every point in its 
orbit is on turn. Here the full declaration, " It is turned," is 
made. Here the earth, which has for some time been moving 
from the sun, makes the turn that must start it on its course to 
the beginning. If to this point the earth has been moving 
down an incline, one that depressed its south pole, its return 
must be up the incline and tending to elevate the south pole. 
Our stakes will occur in reverse order as we watch the sun dur- 
ing the next six months apparently moving south. At this point 
the sun's central ray projects D, which falls on the tropic of 
Cancer. When the earth moves twenty degrees we drop D, 
and you observe that E is projected to fall on E. As the 
earth moves on we have at each stake passed dropped off a 
letter as we approach the beginning. You observe that, in 
dropping these letters, each letter dropped was south of the one 
previously dropped. As the earth moves toward the north its 
center at each stake is elevated till it passes north oi the sun's 
center, and till the sun's center falls again on Capricorn. Then 
this motion of the earth must be in a direction to elevate the 
south pole, and hence accounts for that southward motion at- 
tributed to the sun. The daily motion of the earth we have 
omitted here, as this has been fully explained. 

ward. Now the lower edge of the ring finger is 
brought about on a line with the elbow. The earth 
moves from C, increasing its velocity till D is passed, 
for the reason given above; then it more slowly ap- 
proaches A, the beginning. This motion was down 
the incline till the center of the sun falls on the 
tropic of Cancer, far north of the equator. The 
hand moves from C, increasing its velocity till D is 
passed, then decreasing as A is approached. This 
motion is down the incline, till now a line from the 
elbow falls on the upper line of the middle finger, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 269 

the two middle fingers illustrating the torrid zone. 
During the continuance of the shake this part of the 
hand is held to the moving force, or the moving force 
never rises above or below these fingers. Make the 
shake often, and you will experience in some parts a 




AB an ellipse laid on a plane. Incline it till it takes the po- 
sition CD. Along this incline the hand is supposed to move 
while making the shake. The earth is supposed to move along a 
similar incline. Along FDE the hand rises above the fixed plane. 
The same is true of the earth. Along EOF each descends be- 
low the fixed plane. The point F is called the descending 
node; E and F joined by a line make the line of the nodes. 
Should the shake be made by lowering or elevating the hand, 
or in any possible way the shake can be made, all the foregoing 
phenomena of earth-motions will manifest themselves. Turn 
the above figures round till A comes where B is, and B takes A's 
place, and then the figure will conform to our shake. That is 
the node. It will not change the illustration if the hand rise 
or fall from D to C. 

sense of ease, while in others you experience a sense 
of resistance. Take a heavy weight in your hand, 
and move the hand along the line of your shake, then 
these points will more readily be noticed. This mo- 
tion of the hand up and down the incline given above 
illustrates the nodes (see Fig. 8) — the former the 



270 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 



ascending; the latter, the descending (see Fig. 9). 
My arm measures from the pencil to the point of 
the elbow about twelve inches. The wrist articu- 
lation to be true would move the hand toward 
the elbow about two-fifths of one inch, making this 
perihelion where the lower end of the pencil ap- 
proaches nearest. Again, the elbow described a 
small circle; by measurement we found the circle 

Figure 9. 




Kepler's Second Law. 

The hand in going from B to A moves very slowly, and from 
D to C very rapidly; yet the space enclosed between the lines 
SB and SA is equal to that inclosed between SD and SC. "A 
line connecting the center of the fist with the center of the el- 
bow passes over equal spaces in equal times." 

to be about one-fourth the size of the circle made by 
the moving hand. The sun is said to move through 
the heavens with a velocity equal to about one-fourth 
that of the earth's velocity. The elbow and wrist 
are both hinge joints, suited only for back and forth 
movements. The arm is a lever of the third class, 
suited for rapid motions rather than for great 
strength. Let us see if we can deduce from our 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 271 

shake Kepler's third law: "The squares of the times 
of revolution of the planets about the sun are pro- 
portional to the cubes of their mean distances from 
the sun." I said that my arm was twelve inches 
long. Suppose this length represents the earth's 
distance from the sun, and jour arm, a much longer 
one, represents Mars's distance from the sun; your 
arm would describe a larger circle and with less ve- 
locity, consequently requiring a longer time for the 
hand to move around. Then the square of your pe- 
riod (the time that it takes you to make your shake) is 
to the square of my period (the time that it takes me 
to make my shake) as the cube of the length of your 
arm is to the cube of the length of my arm. In our 
shake you perceive that the hand did not follow each 
time the precise track made by the preceding one. 
The points of resistance and those of acceleration are 
influenced in a measure. So, due to the attraction of 
the planets, the earth's orbit is undergoing a slow 
change of position. It vibrates backward and for- 
ward, each oscillation requiring a period of ten thou- 
sand years. So the earth, in each of five motions, to- 
gether with the track along which these motions are 
kept up, participates in the two motions, back 
and forth. Every periodical recurrence must be pro- 
duced by a back and forth movement of the earth. 
Let us now give this term a liberal interpretation. 
"Shake," to agitate. This is the general and the 
practical meaning in every-day use. Should the earth 
move steadily and without other motions than even 
those we have mentioned, it would not fill fully our 
liberal meaning of "shake," for it would not furnish 
our minds the idea of agitation. The earth has a mo- 



272 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tion of rotation upon its own axis lasting a day, a 
motion of translation about the sun continuing for a 
year; it also has one motion upon its axis accom- 
plished in nineteen years, and another which is only 
accomplished in twenty-five thousand eight hundred 
and sixty-eight years. It also has a fifth motion with 
the solar system through space, which may require 
millions of years. All these combined make an agi- 
tation, a shake according to our practical notions of 
a shake. From this liberal interpretation of this 
term let us see the liberally interpreted results that 
follow. The lengths of our days and nights are con- 
stantly changing, from the equator to the poles, from 
days and nights of but a few hours' duration to days 
and nights lasting six months. This apparent irreg- 
ularity is beautifully expressed by "darkness shaken 
out," sometimes more, sometimes less. The same 
may be said of the earth's varying temperature from 
burning to frozen zones, and the fluctuations in the 
zones outside the torrid, sometimes more, sometimes 
less, till the seasons are scattered along the line of 
the shake. So, while to Job illustrations of those 
visible motions were given, in the Word are found 
those invisible and intangible motions that intricate 
calculations and continued observations assure us do 
exist. 

Motion and Rest Systematical. 

"It [earth] is turned as clay to the seal; and they 
stand as a garment." It is the last of these two 
clauses that we wish to notice here. We present you 
with the entire verse, that you may see the dependent 
relation and the close connection of the thoughts. 
Geographers, in discussing the motions of the earth 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 273 

and the sun, maintain this order — viz., the rotation 
of the earth on its axis, its motions about the sun, 
motion and rest. Then they group earth and all 
with the sun as a center, and move the whole around 
some more remote, higher center. When we have 
discussed the last three topics in this geographical 
order, which we will do, you will see that the order as 
given to Job is no departure. This must strengthen 
our interpretation and make the statements to Job a 
direct gift of inspiration. 

"They stand as a garment." "They," the earth 
and sun. These are the only parties mentioned as 
participating in any way in these motions, whether 
real or apparent. "Stand," to be placed, to have a 
certain position. Then the earth and sun are placed, 
have certain positions. How simple! It reaches a 
clothes-wearing world of every clime, every tongue, 
learned or unlearned. "As a garment." The posi- 
tion of a garment in its relation to the body is the 
position of the earth or any planet in its relation to 
the sun. Our investigations then consist in noticing 
the relation of garment and body. This will teach 
us the astronomy of our system and most beautifully 
distinguish absolute and relative motion, and afford 
positive proof that rest is only relative. When we 
rise in the morning we put on our garments and go 
forth legitimately for a day of activity. The body is 
the center, and each garment is made to surround it 
or some of its members. If the garment surrounds 
the body, then the body to it becomes the central 
moving force. If it surrounds the arm, a dependent 
of the body, then the arm is the central moving force 
of that garment or that part which surrounds it. So 
18 



274 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

with the head, leg, foot, or hand. Each garment has 
its sphere and stands in its place. So the sun is the 
central force or body about which the earth and the 
other dependents circle. As eyes, ears, arms, and 
legs are dependents of the body, so the sun has its de- 
pendents. Every man, in decency, is the center for 
as many garments as there are major planets gath- 
ered about the sun. He goes forth with all these 
garments properly adjusted. At first they were 
made in conformity to certain laws for cutting, and 
then adjusted by the law of ease and comfort to the 
motions of the body, all of which was designed be- 
fore even the material was seen or selected. These 
planets go forth properly adjusted. They were 
made in conformity to certain laws of weight and ad- 
justed to a law of weight and motion, all of which 
was designed even before the material existed. 
These planets keep their places in the march of the 
sun through space. I go over the fields, still my 
garments have not moved from the positions given 
them in the morning. As I go, the eye peeps up at 
the hat and sees it in motion, which is determined by 
the houses, trees, and other objects that it passes. 
This we call absolute motion of the hat. I reach up 
my hand to determine what changes the hat is mak- 
ing from the position given it in the morning. It 
stands just as it did when I placed it on my head. 
The eye said that it was in absolute motion, and 
proved it by the houses, trees, and other objects. 
The hand said that it had not moved. The buckle 
was still on the right side, the brim was in every re- 
spect as when first adjusted. This we term relative 
rest — that is, the hat held the same position relative 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 275 

to the various parts of the head that it did at first. 
While the eye was making its observation on the hat 
it was impossible that the eye could perceive its own 
motion. The hat looks down at the shoe and sees it 
in motion, which is determined by the objects passed 
on the way. This is distinguished as absolute mo- 
tion of the shoe. The eye sees, however, that the 
shoe has not changed its position relative to the va- 
rious parts of the foot. While it was in absolute mo- 
tion with the body, it was in a state of relative rest 
with reference to the parts of the foot. The sleeve 
sees the arm in motion, while it to itself stands. The 
arm sees the sleeve in motion, while it to itself 
stands. The whole system was in absolute motion, 
while each to the other stood. Then they (earth and 
sun) stand as a garment. The earth sees the sun 
rise and set, while it to itself stands; both are jour- 
neying as body and clothes. 

Teaches Systems. 

Every man and his clothes, as they go forth, make 
a miniature system. The relation of planet to sun is 
as close and as dependent for motions as garments to 
the body. If "they stand as a garment" affects both 
alike, then planets and sun go forth a system, and 
the sun must have the same or similar motions that 
the earth has, for the earth stands to sun as sun 
stands to earth. Parts of a garment have no special 
independent movement; if detached, would be as mo- 
tionless, as lifeless, as a cast-off garment. "Stand" 
has two significations: either meets the relation sep- 
arately or collectively. In one sense it signifies to 
be in a particular relation— that is, the garment en- 



27G THE PLUMB-LINE. 

circles the body or a member of the body. The plan- 
ets encircle the sun, while satellites encircle a planet, 
a member of the body. Again, it signifies "to sup- 
port." The cords and lines that make a system 
strong are the great doctrine of gravitation, attrac- 
tion. "In them hath he set a tabernacle for the sun, 
which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, 
and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race." His 
boast is that of a strong man leading a company 
that stands as a support to each other. For the pur- 
poses of each and all the relation is as close as the 
meshes of the cloth, and as strong, but no stronger, 
in proportion, than the cords and threads that make 
a garment. Their dissolution is prophesied to come 
about like the wear of a garment and their renewal 
as the same. "They shall wax old like a garment; as 
a vesture they shall be changed." This still holds up 
the idea that they are not only enduring a similar 
wear, but that the effects on each are the same, and 
that the change will come on many, "they; " that as 
a garment affects all systems as one grand, moving 
army, each dressed in its own habiliments, yet the 
whole moving on as one great central body, while 
systems, individual members, having about them 
their parts of a special garment, move in harmony 
with the whole, as a hat, shoe, or sleeve. From this 
we may determine what other suns are doing. There 
are other bridegrooms leading on trains where love 
guides and governs, as they turn "as clay to the seal, 
and stand as a garment." 

"And from the darkness their light is withholden, 
and the high arm shall be broken." 

It is evident from the construction that the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 277 

thoughts expressed in the above topics are closely re- 
lated in some way to the thoughts expressed by the 
preceding topics. It is evident, also, that part of this 
peculiar lecture to Job begins with the twelfth verse 
and closes with this, the fifteenth, verse. If our in- 
terpretations heretofore are just, then we would ex- 
pect this to be a continuation of the same geograph- 
ical thoughts so closely followed by Job, and would 
naturally expect an explanation as found in the sun's 
motion through space, accompanied by the earth and 
the other members of his train. Let us offer the rea- 
sons afforded by the text. 

"And from the darkness their light is withholden." 
First we will notice a few of the individual terms. 
If we can understand their true significance, this 
will afford light sufficient to guide us, at least, along 
a suspected direction. " Their light." This must 
refer to the light of the earth as well as to that of the 
sun, for these are the only bodies mentioned in this 
lecture. Does the earth shine? It is hard for us to 
believe that the earth is a star. The stars that we 
see are bright and full of motion, while to us the 
earth is without brightness and seems destitute of 
motion. "At the very beginning of astronomical re- 
searches we are to consider the earth as a planet 
shining brightly in the heavens and appearing to 
other worlds as a star does to us. God alone could 
have said "their light" when including the earth 
with the sun, and that four thousand years ago. 

"And from the darkness their light is withholden." 
The light of the sun and the earth is withholden 
from the darkness. No one will think for a moment 
that this darkness is confined to the earth or special 



278 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

places or special things on the earth. This is as un- 
reasonable, and more so, than to say that it referred 
to the dark places on the sun, for we do see dark 
spots on that body. The earth now affords light. 
The text intimates that the earth-light and the sun- 
light are the same light, otherwise, perhaps, it would 
have been written "their lights." The earth reflects 
the light of the sun, one and the same light. " With- 
ho-lden" means to keep back. Then this is kept back 
from the darkness somewhere. According to the 
laws of light, their light fades this side the abyss of 
darkness lying between our system and the fixed 
stars. Within this space, perhaps, our sun moves, 
manifested by "and the high arm shall be broken." 

Arm is a limb of the human body which extends 
from the shoulder to the hand. Mr. Webster ob- 
serves that if the Latin word signifying arm was di- 
rectly from the Greek, the term had reference to a 
joint; "and the high arm" had reference to the high 
joint of the arm or the joint connecting the arm with 
the shoulder. Then the arm will articulate here. 
The hand and arm have furnished the instruments 
for illustrating the previous motions of the earth, 
together with the seal, which is a hand-manipulated 
instrument. The shake was made with the forearm 
by hinge movements. Now "the high arm [upper 
joint] shall be broken." "Shall be broken." Ail 
the motions of the earth are simultaneous and con- 
tinuous. These motions, from the least to the great- 
est, were in their order (their purposes given) told to 
Job. The earth "is turned as clay to the seal," that 
the sun might take hold of the ends of it; it "is 
turned as clay to the seal," that the darkness might 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 279 

be shaken out of it. They stand all the while as a 
garment. Now, in connection with all these, the 
declaration conies, "And the high arm shall be 
broken," another motion added. On ball in socket, 
full freedom of motion in a circle shall carry fingers, 
hand, wrist, elbow, satellites, planets, sun, round a 
higher, grander center. Isaiah xl. 12: "Who hath 
measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and 
meted out heaven with the span?" The waters of the 
earth are a handful. The bounds of the solar sys- 
tem were circumscribed by a span. The diameter of 
a span is the distance from the end of the thumb to 
the end of the middle finger. This measurement, ax>- 
plied to the muscles of the arm, reaches to about the 
socket in the shoulder, the upper joint. "His going 
forth is from the end of the heaven, and his circuit 
unto the ends of it." As these sweep round their 
light is withholden from the darkness that fills the 
chambers of the south and the emptiness over which 
the north is suspended. 

Note. — When the true direction of this great sidereal journey 
is determined, it will be found closely allied to our shake ; its 
direction will conform to the angle and direction taken by the 
arm as the high arm breaks, to the angle made with the shake. 
We face the north, the hand moves from east to west, which is 
the reverse of the earth's motion. If the shake is kept up, as 
the arm breaks at the elbow, the sun-motion would be less than 
perpendicular to the shake. 

Job, in reply to Bildad, made some uses of the term 
shake, and for purposes similar to the preceding, 
which we shall notice here. We offer these as addi- 
tional proof of the correctness of the preceding inter- 
pretations. Job ix. 4-10: "He is vise in heart, and 
mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself 



280 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

against him, and hath prospered? Which renioveth 
the mountains, and they know not; which overturn- 
eth them in his anger; which shaketh the earth out of 
her place, and the pillars thereof tremble; which 
commandeth the sun, and it riseth not; and sealeth. 
up the stars; which alone spreadeth out the heavens, 
and treadeth upon the waves of the sea; which mak- 
eth Arcturus, Orion, and Pleiades, and the chambers 
of the south; which doeth great things past finding 
out; yea, and wonders without number." We have 
given seven verses, yet all are included in one sen- 
tence, which rehearses more than a dozen of his won- 
derful acts of wisdom and strength, each of which is 
a positive declaration. It is not our purpose to in- 
vestigate each topic here. "He is wise in heart, and 
mighty in strength." Thus Job introduces him; then 
he follows with performances that require both wis- 
dom and strength. He removeth the mountains, he 
shaketh the earth out of her place, he commandeth 
the sun and it riseth not, he sealeth up the stars, he 
spreadeth out the heavens, he maketh Arcturus, 
Orion, and Pleiades and the chambers of the south. 
This is no parable, no figure, but simply a statement 
of wonderful acts. We will review these briefly. 

"Which removeth the mountains, and they know 
not; which overturneth them in his anger." Moun- 
tains are upheavals made by great and violent forces. 
The thought is one of anger, fury, rage, done by na- 
ture's great repellent force. So in reality were the 
mountains made. Our observation in reading the 
Scriptures is that when a thing is done to inanimate 
objects, and these are said to know it not, we have 
found it consistent to impute the act to violence, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 281 

some irregular force, some act outside the regular 
operations of the forces. And when to inanimate 
objects a sense of knowing is imputed, our observa- 
tion holds good that the act is in accordance with 
law; and "to know" manifests a willing disposition 
to implicitly obey. Inanimate objects, like animate, 
like man himself, are under law. Violence produces 
irregularities, a sense of knowing not what they do. 
This can not be otherwise. Violence is resistance to 
forces acting in obedience to law, or these forces 
made terrible in executing the law or carrying out a 
decree. This is physically, socially, morally, true. 
These latter triumph every time. There is no mo- 
tion they do not control, no uprising in matter they 
can not assuage. Arcturus makes his flight through 
space many hundred times faster than the fastest 
cannon-ball, jet is guided with perfect security. 
Were all the planets, satellites, and suns in space to 
revolt, the revolt would be put down, these unknown 
worlds reduced to obedience, led back to their sta- 
tions and put on duty again. We see this truth in 
all the affairs of life. If I lift anything, I do this 
positively against gravity. I hurl a stone through 
the air, every inch is resisted by air and gravity till 
this stone is brought to a state of rest, to a sense of 
knowing its place. Obedience exemplifies a sense of 
knowing. 

" Which shaketh the earth out of her place." Then 
the earth moves, moves back and forth, rapidly. 
Then in the same sentence follows the true philo- 
sophical result: "The pillars thereof tremble." "Pil- 
lars" — -what are" these? Where situated? How 
many? What makes these tremble? A pillar is 



282 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that which sustains, upholds. Pillars are always 
situated beneath the thing to be sustained or sup- 
ported or upheld. Pillars of the earth — let us see 
how they are placed beneath the earth and uphold it, 
and what they are in this sense. The earth is a globe, 
the center of which is its lowest point; every other 
point is above this. Then the pillars that uphold the 
earth must be situated at the center of the earth. 
The earth, then, is round. Who would think of 
placing pillars above the thing to be upheld? Office 
of these pillars: All bodies are drawn toward the 
center of the earth, not because of any peculiar prop- 
erty or power in the center, for all we know, but be- 
cause the earth, being a great sphere, the aggregate 
effect of the attraction exerted by all its particles 
upon any body exterior to it, is such as to direct the 
body toward the center. The total amount of attrac- 
tion exerted by the earth upon bodies exterior to it is 
the same as though that force were all concentrated 
at the center. Every particle of matter in the uni- 
verse sends a pillar to help uphold the earth. These 
tremble. "Tremble," to shake involutarily. This 
is surely a shaking subject. This is an involuntary 
act; not the will of these pillars, but an edict from an 
earth that moves back and forth. These pillars 
tremble, the earth's foundations tremble, these pil- 
lars that come from every particle of matter in the 
universe tremble. These are forces that make the 
universe a unit. Then these tremble, and not volun- 
tarily, but are forced to do so, as these particles move 
toward or from each other. Gravity acts as a tense 
spring. As the earth moves from the sun this spring 
bends more and more, retarding its motion, till it 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 283 

reaches a point beyond which it can not go; then the 
earth turns, and the bent spring brings it back. This 
is the involuntary shake, the swinging back and 
forth of the forces that make the earth abiding while 
being shaken out of her place. "Tremble" beauti- 
fully illustrates the vibrations of a spring. These vi- 
brations are long or short, as the tension slackens or 
is increased as the earth moves from or toward the 
sun. " Which shaketh the earth out of her place, and 
the pillars thereof tremble." Why connect these 
clauses so closely? Why make the latter so directly 
dependent upon the former? (See "Influence of 
Gravitation.") 

"Which commandeth the sun, and it riseth not." 
The preceding topic was a positive statement that 
the earth moves. Now we have the positive state- 
ment that the sun does not rise. Job is not now illus- 
trating the deceptiveness of motion when applied to 
the sun, but he talks about these motions as thev 
really occur. The earth moves; the sun does not. 
The sun never rose one single time, nor ever will. 
"He commandeth the sun, and it riseth not." A 
cold, stubborn fact. Does this accord with the state- 
ment made to Job: "and caused the dayspring to 
know his place?" What do you say? 

"And sealeth up the stars." Notice how closely 
this clause is joined to the one that preceded. "He 
commandeth the sun, and it riseth not," fixes the seal 
on the stars. It does this and no more — no rising 
sun, no rising stars, no standing earth around which 
sun and stars revolve. The text setting forth earth- 
motions, found in the preceding part of this chapter, 
exemplifies this truth, and accounts for the decep- 



284 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tions that obscured the truth found in our present 
topic. The very instrument that was used to illus- 
trate these motions, or rather their deceptiveness, 
now seals the motion of the stars. 

"Which alone spreadeth out the heavens." The 
act of moving the earth back and forth, joined with 
the truth that the stars are fixed, to us spreads out 
the heavens, which refers to these acts. The stars 
that rise on the 22d of March have passed behind us 
and out of sight on the 21st of June, like oases on the 
desert. Kew ones rise, twinkle awhile, and pass 
out of view. Those that rise on us in September tell 
us that we are three hundred million miles from our 
starting and as far from the ending. The stars are 
fixed mile-stones along the earth's track, as famil- 
iarly known to astronomers as are the stations along 
our great thoroughfares to the engineer that has 
watched them so often with great interest. 

Job xii. 22: "He discovereth deep things out of 
darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of 
death." 

"He discovereth deep things out of darkness.-' 
"Discover," to uncover, to lay open to view, to dis- 
close. "Deep things," that which is profound, not 
easily fathomed. These mysterious things out of 
darkness are to be laid open. These are the trophies 
that man will win when he has made himself master 
of the situation at the poles of the earth. The mo- 
tions of our earth, the winds, meteorological condi- 
tions of the atmosphere, the planets, their satellites, 
aurora, electricity, the sun, and stars, when viewed 
from this land of darkness, man will discover that 
which is profound, man will soar to a new height in 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 285 

all things, showing himself to be only a little lower 
than the angels. 

"And bringeth out to light the shadow of death." 
The shadow here spoken of is the earth's real shad- 
ow, that, by its own motion as it moves from the sun, 
settles alternately about the poles. (See "Frigid 
Zone.") This shadow as borne by the earth to the 
sun, the place of the shadow, is brought to light — no 
sun-motion, but earth-motion. Jeremiah xiii. 1G: 
"And, while ye look for light, he turn it into the 
shadow of death, and make it gross darkness." 
There is that transfer of light from one pole to the 
other spoken of before. Kead the entire verse. This 
is a figure; yes — but a figure of what? The real mo- 
tion of the earth to or from the sun. Amos v. 8: 
"Seek him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, 
and turneth the shadow of death into the morning." 
Here it is numbered among his wonderful works 
among the stars. It is the same story of a turning 
shadow to the morning, to the sun. 

Astronomers tell us that in some mysterious way 
the motions of our system are connected with the 
seven stars. Soone think that we journey around 
this cluster. This, in all probability, is one of the 
deep things to be discovered out of darkness. Let 
us interview Solomon on these motions. Wisdom of 
Solomon vii. 17, 18: "For he hath given me certain 
knowledge of the things that are, namely, to know 
how the world was made, and the operation of the 
elements: the beginning, ending, and the midst of the 
times: the alterations of the turnings of the sun, and 
the change of seasons: the circuits of years, and the 
positions of stars." 



286 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

We will review this text briefly, adopting Solo- 
mon's topical order as he gives them. 

"For he hath given me certain knowledge of the 
things that are." Solomon says that " certain knowl- 
edge" is given him. This is the theme of this book. 
The work of our lives is to demonstrate the truth of 
God's gifts of inspiration. To Solomon it w T as not 
knowledge acquired by study, but knowledge ac- 
quired by gift. We have in his statement before us 
evidence of the fact that it was a gift, for he talks 
about truths of which the world was absolutely ig- 
norant two hundred years ago — yes, fifty years ago. 
This knowledge is only limited to the things that are, 
that now exist, everything. 

"To know how the world was made." "Make," to 
form of materials. Then he knew how the world was 
formed of materials already created. Then he fol- 
lows in close connection with "the operations of the 
elements." That can not imply other than that the 
world was made from elements by their operations, 
action, or effect. Now an element is the last result 
of chemical analysis, that which can not be decom- 
posed by any means now employed. An atom is the 
last result of mechanical division, and is called an 
element because it is the first principle or minutest 
part of matter. This world was made of these ele- 
ments. By their operations molecules are formed. 
Molecules unite and make bodies. Solomon says 
that he knew these operations to the making of this 
world. Then he was a profound chemist by gift. To 
be that he must know that all matter is composed of 
indivisible atoms; that atoms of the same element 
have the same weight, but in different elements they 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 237 

have different weights; that the combining numbers 
represent these relative weights; that all chemical 
compounds are formed by the union of different 
atoms. Let us see how the worlds were made by 
Bible statement. This will, in a measure, justify 
our interpretation. Hebrews xi. 3: "Through faith 
we understand that the worlds were framed by the 
word of God, so that things which are seen were not 
made of things which do appear." 

"Through faith we understand that the worlds 
were framed." Faith is a gift; that is the way it came 
to Solomon. Let us look at it in a physical sense. 
" The worlds were framed." That means that things 
were put together, that the world is a framed struc- 
ture made of invisible atoms, mechanically put to- 
gether. Now let us see if all our knowledge of chem- 
istry is not based on faith alone, and that from the 
things we see. "A molecule of water is so very 
small that a total of eight billions of these molecules 
is barely visible in the best of modern microscopes. 
A molecule of water contains two atoms of hydro- 
gen and one of oxygen. Now if these atoms were of 
the same size and could be separated, and if all the 
atoms of either the hydrogen or oxygen, or one-third 
of the total, could be collected, it would then form a 
bulk too small to be seen in the most powerful glass. 
Still, there are more than two and one-half billions 
of these water particles. Then you must accept 
chemistry by faith. An atom is invisible, intangi- 
ble, tasteless, and without odor. 

"The beginning, ending, and the midst of the 
times." The elements are indestructible, their op- 
erations invariable. The laws that governed their 



288 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

action in the beginning will do so to the end and 
through the intervening time. 

"The alterations of the turnings of the sun" The 
phrase "of the sun" was not found in the original. 
This affords proof that the learned world at the time 
of the revision thought that the sun turned, rose, and 
set by its own motions. It does not take even close 
observation to determine that there was no omission 
at all. That there might not possibly arise any mis- 
takes as to the character of the knowledge given to 
Solomon, he particularizes and introduces the par- 
ticulars by "namely." 

"The alterations of the turnings." Both are writ- 
ten in the plural. Alterations of turns of this world. 
His knowledge extends to this world only. Then the 
turns of this world alter. This world has five turns, 
three on its own axis and two through space; one of 
the latter about the sun and the other with the sun as 
he pursues his journey. While alterations of turns 
beautifully applies to many directions of turns, it 
at the same time illustrates circular motion com- 
bined with its rotary motion. As it turns from west 
to east the turn that carries it through space is al- 
tering all the while. These alterations of turnings 
are the very things that give us our seasons and 
years. He follows this with our result given here. 

"The change of seasons, the circuit of years." 
The fact that Solomon should so arrange these topics 
that when given the most rigid or the most liberal in- 
terpretation they teach the philosophy of the earth's 
motions and their results — days, seasons, and years 
— affords proof of an inspired insight to earth-mo- 
tions. The fact that alterations of turnings do pro- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 289 

duce these effects, and that Solomon should say so, 
is enough to convince one of a high inspiration. 

"And the positions of stars." The connection will 
show you that this too is a result brought about 
by the same cause that produced the seasons and the 
circuit of years. The turns of the earth alone de- 
velop the positions of the stars. To the earth they 
are mile-stones, as truly fixed as are the mile-rocks 
along our great thoroughfares. As the earth rotates 
it covers or uncovers the sun and stars. These are 
found in the same places day after day, night after 
night. When our western horizon is elevated above 
the sun we see the stars precisely where we saw them 
on the preceding night, while they may appear fur- 
ther east, west, north, or south. A change of this 
world's position makes this apparent change in the 
position of the stars, while the position of the stars 
every time determines the amount of this change. 
Again, as the earth moves along its orbit new stars 
come into sight. These are seen to rise higher and 
higher on each succeeding evening till they pass out 
of sight behind us to rise no more for a year. Like 
trees and mountain peaks that rise on us in our trav- 
els, we come to each in turn, we pass them, and they 
fade from sight behind us. The stars we see over 
our heads on the first night in January have disap- 
peared in the west by the 1st of April. New stars 
appear; in a few months they are gone, like passing 
mile-stones along our thoroughfares. New stars rise 
and set till the year ends. The new year is marked 
by the visitation of the stars that marked its advent 
before. The same stars that were beacons to guide 
the earth in its course in former years will offer the 
19 



290 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

same gentle luring through coming generations. 
Our signs, together with the regularly returning in- 
fluence wrought by the stars over the conditions of 
earthly matter, find a system in the fact that Ave re- 
turn to the same star clusters day after day, month 
after month, till the year ends, and to be repeated as 
the years repeat their periodical return. 

We mark the positions of these stars and call them 
by name. Thus it is that the earth's motion around 
the sun as a center explains the various aspects of 
the heavens in summer and winter skies. Says Mr. 
Steele on the position of the stars, under the head of 
" Value of Stars in Practical Life:" "The stars are 
the landmarks of the universe. They seem to be 
placed in the heavens by the Creator not alone to 
elevate our thoughts and expand our conception of 
the infinite and eternal, but to afford us, amid the 
constant fluctuations of our own earth, something 
unchangeable and abiding. Every landmark about 
us is constantly shifting, but over all shine the eter- 
nal stars, each with its place so accurately marked 
that to the astronomer and geographer no deception 
is possible. To the mariner the heavens become a 
dial-plate, the figures on its face set with glittering 
stars, along which the moon travels as a shining 
hand that marks off the hours with an accuracy that 
no clock can ever rival. Standing on the deck of his 
vessel, far out at sea, a single observation of the sun 
or stars decides his location in the waste of waters 
as accurately as if he were at home and had caught 
sight of some old landmark that he had known from 
his boyhood. In all the intricacies of surveying the 
stars furnish the only immutable guide. Our clocks 



THE PLUMB-LIXE. 291 

vainly strive to keep time with the celestial hose. 
Thus, by an evident plan of the Creator, even in the 
most common affairs of life, are we compelled to look 
for guidance from the shifting objects of earth up to 
the heavens above." 

Thus we close the discussion of the rotation of the 
earth on its axis, together with its motion about the 
sun, as given by inspiration. How nicely do these 
accord with the scientific theories touching these 
great movements! There is one difference noticed 
in the manner of setting forth such theories and their 
special illustrations: Man discusses one subject with 
many long sentences, and every time the illustra- 
tions are a kind of separate side-show that accompa- 
ny, rather than form a part of the big circus; while 
inspiration discusses many great questions in a few 
short sentences of well-selected words that are liv- 
ing illustrations, illustrations that talk. These go 
to our faith, give it new hopes, and breathe into us 
anew the breath of life. We should worship Him 
who made all things and has given evidence that he 
is perfect in knowledge by his simple and lucid ex- 
planation and illustration of things the world has so 
recently learned. We should revere that science 
which accords with his word, for it is God's own way 
of work, his mode of making visible his thoughts. 
Scientists must no longer claim the honor of being 
the first to find the deception produced by these mo- 
tions, but to place it where it belongs. It was told 
to Job more than three thousand years before their 
first conceptionist was born. Scientists should 
boast that their theory is in harmony with Bible 
teaching. Let us boast because we live in an age 



292 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

when science, if it does not draw its theroies from 
the Bible, so closely imitates them by example and 
well-defmed truths that we know these theories are 
settled upon the rock, indisputable truths, no longer 
weapons in the hands of the enemies of the Bible, 
but living witnesses, testifying to its truths. Let 
the decision of the world be what it may to-day, like 
Kepler, we can well wait a hundred years for an 
adherent, since God has waited four thousand years 
for an expounder, 

God's covenant was with day and night, physical, 
or light and darkness. (See "The Earth Is Round.") 
There the philosophy of the movements of light and 
darkness are more minutely noticed. 

To Whom Is Honor Due? 

If to Caesar, then give it to him without stint; if 
not, then withhold it from him and give it to him 
who is deserving. Astronomy is the oldest of the 
sciences, "The study of the stars is as old as man 
himself. Many of its discoveries date back of au- 
thentic records amid the mysteries of tradition," so 
we are told. These are silent touching earth-mo- 
tions. The Chinese tell us of a conjunction of four 
planets and the moon twenty-five hundred years be- 
fore Christ. They show records of an eclipse of the 
sun that were made 2127 B.C.; yet they show no 
records, do not pretend to have them, have no tra- 
dition, no intimation of these earth-motions older 
than the middle of the sixteenth century. The Chal- 
dean priests were astronomers. Alexander found at 
Babylon, 331 years B.C., records reaching back nine- 
teen centuries. These records say nothing about 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 293 

earth-motion. The Chaldeans divided the day into 
hours, invented the sun-dial — divided the day into 
hours without knowing the cause of day. Seven 
hundred years B.C. Thales, the Grecian philosopher, 
taught that the earth was round; that the moon re- 
ceived her light from the sun; introduced the divi- 
sion of the earth's surface into zones, the theory of 
the obliquity of the ecliptic, and predicted sun- 
eclipses — yet he saw no moving earth. One of his 
pupils taught that stars were suns and that the plan- 
ets were inhabited. To this one the earth stood, had 
no motion. These men w T ere noted for their oppor- 
tunities and astronomical knowledge. Their names, 
like stars of immense orbits, have risen on every suc- 
ceeding generation, have gone down on none. Many 
of them traveled over the known world, and spent 
an average life in search of knowledge. Astronomy 
was the great prize. No country, no people, no man, 
ever told them that the earth moved. Five hundred 
and fifty years before Christ Pythagoras, astrono- 
mers say, conceived that the earth revolved on its 
axis, and that he was the first man that ever even 
conceived such a thing. Copernicus, about the mid- 
dle of the sixteenth century, a little over three hun- 
dred years ago, taking up the theory (only a theory) 
of Pythagoras, by a demonstration established the 
truth of its motion. Such is the highest claim of the 
scientific world to this discovery. This was a cen- 
tury after the discovery of America. Many of our 
towns and cities are witnesses coming up from that 
period. What a rebuke to Bible-readers! It had 
been dispensed to Job more than a thousand years 
before Pvthagoras was born or four thousand years 



294 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

before Copernicus demonstrated the truth of earth- 
motions. Job, as a man, had not ranked among phi- 
losophers, as far as we know, nor have we any knowl- 
edge of his having visited any nation or country in 
search of knowledge. Imagine the difference as you 
go backward from the middle of the sixteenth cen- 
tury three thousand years or more. It would be but 
going backward from a bright dawn into night, 
thicker, thicker, denser still as we put the years be- 
hind us on our journey back to the age of Job. From 
a human standpoint, all the disadvantages of age 
and opportunity were his. It did not depend upon 
these. It depended alone upon inspiration; for, as 
we have shown, the world knew nothing of it for 
ages after the days of Job. If it depended upon in- 
spiration, then, too, it being found in the Bible, 
would give the preference to this book, and hold it 
out to us as the great book of inspiration, one 
through which God talks to us of his wondrous ways. 
Notice the striking difference between these men. 
The first that we mentioned came recommended as 
learned searchers after knowledge, but Job comes 
and is introduced as one that feared God and es- 
chewed evil. What would have been our status to- 
dav in astronomical knowledge alone had the world 
taken up the theory dispensed to Job so long ago? 
The answer is apparent: we would be three thousand 
years in advance of our present standpoint. 



CHAPTER XI. 

Who We Are, and What We Are — Man — Assets of His Wealth 
— Circulation of the Blood— Spinal Cord — The Body before 
and after Death — After Death the Body Is to Be Broken Up 
by Physical and Chemical Forces and Scattered — Will Be 
Collected When the Earth Gives Up the Dead — Faith. 

Who Are We? What Are We? 

We head this division with two questions. The 
answers to these questions involve the creation, for- 
mation, and establishing of the earth and all things 
therein, animate or inanimate. We are sons and 
daughters of a great Creator, of a great King, who, 
during his own life, has given to us by will all things 
that we see around us, together with all the invisible 
forces that attend on matter. That we were in his 
thoughts before the least of these was created, and 
that these are all specified in a will made directly to 
us, see Isaiah xlv. 18: "For thus saith the Lord that 
created the heavens; God himself that formed the 
earth and made it; he hath established it, he created 
it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited." We call 
your attention to the order of the principal words in 
the text. "He created," brought into existence the 
materials of the heavens, all the systems. From 
this he formed, gave shape to the earth; then es^ 
tablished, made solid, made it strong in its place. 
The purpose was that it might be inhabited. If we 
look at the convenient things around us, or if we con- 
sider that all of our earthly needs, temporal gratifi- 
cation, can find a full enjoyment from these forma- 

(295) 



296 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

tions, we can not but say that we see design, and the 
text declares a Designer even from the beginning. 
Man, by a special deed of gift, is made heir to all. 
Psalm cxv. 16: "The earth hath he given to the chil- 
dren of men." What a gift! Fifty million square 
miles of land and three times as many miles of ocean. 
This is not all: the same will bequeaths one hundred 
and fifty thousand plants and herbs. Genesis i. 29 : 
" I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is 
upon the face of all the earth." Nothing reserved. 
Botanists tell us that there are one hundred and fifty 
thousand. Zoologists say that the earth is as rich in 
animal as in vegetable life. These, together with all 
the fishes of the sea and all the fowls of the air, land, 
and water, are given to man. Genesis i. 28: "Have 
dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl 
of the air, and over every living thing that moveth 
upon the earth." Air — the very thing needed most, 
needed oftenest, the very thing without which he 
must die — surrounds him on all sides. The base of 
a column of air twenty-five thousand miles in circum- 
ference and fifty miles high stands upon his shoul- 
ders. How abundant, how convenient, how press- 
ing the claim, when we know that he must breathe 
several times every minute, inhaling about one hun- 
dred cubic inches each breath! Yet his demand can 
not exhaust nor even lessen the supply of this store- 
house which is placed at every one's door. Then it 
is swallowed without an effort on his part; not la- 
borious, but pleasant. Its own pressure would drive 
it into the mouth. This is also specified in the deed. 
Isaiah xlii. 5: "He giveth breath unto the people 
upon the earth." There is another gift, higher still, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 297 

the one that distinguishes man above all of God's 
works : a spirit. Man alone has this, so far as we are 
told — something more refined than matter, a living, 
imperishable something — a spirit. Isaiah xlii. 5 
sa}s that he giveth breath unto the people upon the 
earth and spirit to them that walk therein. There 
is another, still more excellent, specification found 
in this will: these spirits of ours are susceptible of 
gifts of understanding, knowledge, and wisdom. 
Job xxxii. 8: "There is a spirit in man: and the inspi- 
ration of the Almighty giveth them understanding.'' 
With these spirits, which are susceptible of endless 
expansion under the gifts of inspiration, God makes 
man the consummation, the end, the object of all the 
creations in the earth or the starry worlds, and fits 
him to rule over these and more. The very forces 
lodged in all these — in the sunbeam, in ascending va- 
pors, in the winds, in the latent energies of the 
waters, in the wily lightnings, and in the ordinances 
of the moon and stars — are his by lawful conveyance. 
The specification in the will hands all over to him as 
an intelligence capable of dominion. Psalm viii. *>: 
"Thou madest him to have dominion over the works 
of thy hands; thou hast put all things under his 
feet." This text was to David a prophecy. We be- 
hold its fulfilment; we realize as a truth what was 
to David three thousand years ago only the kiss of 
inspiration. In this high estate man finds himself 
crowned with glory and honor. The animal world 
withdrew from the contest in remote ages in the 
past. The forces with which nature is endowed are 
one by one kneeling at man's feet to take his burden. 
"These results are of the mightiest import. The dis- 



298 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

coveries of gravitation, of oxygen, of the circulation 
of the blood, of vaccination, anesthetics, and photog- 
raphy, the invention of the mariner's compass, of 
gunpowder, the printing-press, the chronometer, the 
steam-engine, and the electric telegraph have con- 
structed human relations. They are steps of ad- 
vancement in which the whole world is moving. But 
great as are the material revolutions which they 
have produced, they have a more momentous signifi 
cance as a first glorious fruitings of the growth of 
knowledge. They are witnesses of what can be ac- 
complished by the earnest, persevering study of na- 
ture. They are prophetic of a new dispensation of 
the intellect, of a wider and nobler culture, in which 
the living universe of God shall neither be contemp- 
tuously passed by nor assigned an inferior place in 
courses of study." The Bible is a gift full of gifts 
and giving from Genesis to Revelation, and givings 
that we realize from the cradle to the grave, givings 
by hope without end. What a Giver! what gifts! 

These spiritual eyes are opened upward to other 
treasures, that are specified in a new deed, from one 
lawfully seized and having the authority to covenant 
new gifts, equal in all respects, to that authority to 
convey lands and tenements. It tells him that he is 
to fall heir to another world, unmeasured my miles, 
whose riches and glory exceed the riches and glory of 
this as far as the heavens are above the earth. How 
many good things have we heard in life! O, most 
excellent things have we read, have we listened to! 
Our great social enjoyment is in talking, hearing, 
writing, and reading. We are able to express our- 
selves vividly to the understanding of our friends in 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 299 

descriptions of the things around us. But this is a 
kingdom and country of free mansions, where the 
common people wear crowns, upon whom is shed a 
glory too boundless for tongue or pen to describe, as 
endless as immortality with all that it means. Such 
is the limit as specified in this new deed. 

Let us return now to our analogy or comparison. 
Revelation teaches that the human family all sprang 
from one man and one woman. This is a question 
about which so much has been said that we will give 
one quotation simply to keep our line, and then pass 
to other features. Quackenbos, speaking of the ori- 
gin of the English language, says: "Celtic was itself 
an offshoot from the Hebrew or Phenician tongue. 
Thus etymology, as well as profane history, confirms 
the account given by Moses of the peopling of the 
earth from one parent family." Then we have two 
living witnesses besides revelation bearing witness 
from every age that man is of divine origin. With 
the authority of revelations, of profane history, of 
the etymology of our own tongue, we shall speak of 
him in this light. We will begin with him before he 
was, fall in with him where he is, and follow him, 
hand in hand with his philosophy, to the grave, where 
his philosophy, as perishable as he, shall wither with 
him. But a new philosophy, clothed like him with 
immortality, shall, with the strong grip of the Lion 
of the tribe of Judah, raise him and put skin and 
flesh upon the dry bones and bid them live to breathe 
a new air. to walk in fields of new philosophy, unal- 
loyed by the errors of the old. Nevertheless, one of 
the lions of infidelity, after having dissected man 
and dog, pronounces them one and the same. Be 



300 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

this true or false, Solomon underlies even this with a 
pleasing hope. Eeclesiastes ix. 4: "For to him that 
is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living 
dog is better than a dead lion." We will try to show 
in the jjroper place a very great anatomical differ- 
ence; at present will only leave you the saying of the 
prophet Isaiah (xxix. 16): "Surely your turning of 
things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's 
clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He 
made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him 
that framed it, He had no understanding?" Let us 
carry our comparison into the domains of physiolo- 
gy. Psalm cxxxix. 14: "I will praise thee; for I am 
fearfully and wonderfully made: marvelous are thy 
works." How strong are the three modifying words, 
"wonderfully," "fearfully," "marvelous," as used in 
speaking of this complex machine, man! Let us see 
if physiology will so testify. "The human body is 
composed of six kinds of material: bone, cartilage, 
fiber, muscle, nerve, and fat. There are two hun- 
dred and twenty-six bones in a full-grown person — 
sixty in the head, thirty-two in the trunk, the upper 
extremities each contain thirty-two, making sixty- 
four; the lower extremities each contain thirty-one, 
making sixty-two; there are eight other cap or pan- 
bones. There are over five hundred muscles in the 
human body." Let us examine the trochea. "This 
divides into bronchial tubes, which lead into the 
lungs, and continue to divide into very small tubes, 
upon which cluster the air-cells of the lungs like 
grapes upon the stem, only they are ultimately so 
small that there are supposed to be six hundred mil- 
lions of them in the lungs." The heart: "This mar- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 301 

velous little engine throbs on continually at the rate 
of one hundred thousand beats per day, forty million 
per year, often one billion without a single stop. If 
it should expend its entire force in lifting its own 
weight vertically, it would rise twenty thousand feet 
in an hour. During a life such as we sometimes see 
it has propelled half a million tons of blood, yet has 
repaired itself as it has wasted during its patient, un- 
faltering labor." O how that would shake my faith 
had revelation said it! How thankful I am that my 
salvation does not depend upon my believing this! 
This story, like faith, "is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen." I am of 
the opinion that revelation has never called us to be- 
lieve, unaided by any evidence, questions more stu- 
pendous than w T hen w r e are called upon to accept 
many of the scientific theories of the day. Often, 
as we try to take in some of these great theories, our 
faith is shaken by whisperings: "Go slow! go slow! 
the world's wisest philosophers taught with pride 
some very foolish theories, and they were kept alive 
by the world for more than a thousand years." Tlie 
real physiologist can not but place his hand upon his 
mouth, his mouth in the dust, and exclaim with the 
Psalmist: "I am fearfully and wonderfully made!" 

The heart is the organ that starts the blood on its 
tour of the body. Out of the right ventricle it is 
forced to the lungs, there it is cleansed, the impuri- 
ties taken from it, and in their stead stimulating 
properties from the air are taken in for the uses of 
the system. It then returns to the heart to be forced 
to the various parts of the body for the uses of the 
bodv. The left auricle receives it as it filters in, 



302 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

bright and pure, from the lungs; out of the left ven- 
tricle it is forced to the remotest parts of the body. 
The right and left ventricles are open avenues lead- 
ing from the heart, through which the blood is forced. 
One, as we have said, directs its flow to the lungs; 
the other, throughout the entire body. Proverbs iv. 
23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; lor out of it 
are the issues of life." This entire chapter is filled 
with beautiful parables. "Keep thy heart with ail 
diligence." It is a vital organ; out of it are the is- 
sues of life, issues more than one. From it are the 
open gateways of life. The ventricles. "Issues of 
life." The blood issues from the heart. Blood is 
only liquid flesh. A long time ago Plato said that 
the blood was the food of the flesh, the life of the 
flesh. Leviticus xvii. 11, 13, 14: "For the life of the 
flesh is in the blood; . . . he shall even pour out 
the blood thereof, and cover it with dust. For it is 
the life of all flesh." So if Solomon had said, "Keep 
thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the is- 
sues of blood;" it could not have been more intelligi- 
ble, for the blood is the life, and the very thing that 
comes through the heart. I am told that this is a 
figure; if it is, then a figure of what? Take it spiritu- 
ally, it is a figure beautifully illustrating the circu- 
lation of the blood. The blood is the life of the 
flesh. Then, in a physical sense, our life continually 
goes from the heart, carrying strength and life to the 
body; as continuously it is sent to the lungs to be 
purified and revivified. So, in a spiritual sense, the 
life we get goes from the heart (figurative of the 
physical propelling motor) to build up the spiritual 
man; all the time the heart is sending its current to 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 303 

the fountain of life, there to be renewed and purified, 
preparatory to being sent to the spiritual man. Take 
it physically and it is a type of those moral, life- 
giving streams that issue from the heart — the one to 
build up life; the other that issues, goes out, for life, 
affording a tangible' pulse in fruit, daily walk, and 
conversation. To make it a figure only strengthens 
our position. We are taught that chemical combi- 
nations liberate muscular force. This is always 
done at the expense of muscular tissue. The mus- 
cles most active are quickest destroyed and oftenest 
renewed. The labors of the heart are more inces- 
sant than that of any other organ, consequently it is 
oftenest worn out, oftenest rebuilt. It throbs on day 
and night, as incessantly when we sleep as when 
awake. We are further taught that our hearts are 
burned up and replaced every thirty days. The 
prayer "Create within me a new heart" is as true in 
a physical as a moral sense. "A heart of flesh'' 
places it as a physical change of heart. Proverbs 
xvi. 9: "A man's heart deviseth his way." Compare 
Proverbs iv. 23: "Keep thy heart with all diligence; 
for out of it are the issues of life." If a man's heart 
deviseth his way, the heart of some deviseth to them 
the way of death. But "out of the heart are the is- 
sues of life." We can not accept the clause "out of 
the heart are the issues of life" only in a physical 
sense. How could a man devise in his heart the way 
of death, and life issue from this workshop of death? 
Like our other expression, this is a figure, and finds 
a solution only as we compare our physical trans- 
formation to those of our spiritual. Thus the circu- 
lation of the blood is taught. 



3(U THE PLUMB-LINE. 

Ecclesiastes xii. 6: "Or ever the silver cord be 
loosed, or the golden bowl be broken, or the pitcher 
be broken at the fountain, or the wheel broken at the 
cistern." 

"Or ever the silver cord be loosed." The silver 
cord is the spinal cord. Sever that, loose it from its 
connection, as done by hanging and many other 
ways, and death ensues. The nerves, as is the spi- 
nal-cord, are called silver cords, from resemblance to 
silver threads. The golden bowl is the vessel that 
holds the brain. 

"Or the pitcher be broken at the fountain." The 
peculiarity of a pitcher is its spout, The object of 
the pitcher is to hold a liquid designed for immediate 
use. The spout is affixed to conveniently and surely 
conduct the contained liquid into its channel of use 
without loss and the inconvenience of having it 
trickle down the sides of the pitcher. The heart has 
four chambers, and these are termed ventricles and 
auricles. The ventricles receive the blood from the 
auricles as a pitcher receives water from the cistern. 
The right ventricle, as a pitcher's spout, directs the 
blood, starts it to the lungs. Eeturning from the 
lungs to the heart, it runs into an open cistern, a mo- 
mentary stop, and then enters the left ventricle; 
from this it is poured or starts again as a spring or 
rivulet, makes the tour of the body, and returns to 
the heart.- Then to break the pitcher at the fountain 
would be to break it at the spout, and its further use 
as a pitcher is marred. So, to break the circulation 
at the ventricles impairs these, the fountain stops, 
and death ensues. If these remain intact, and let 
the auricles fail to fill their functions, fail to fill the 



THE PLUMB-LIXE. . 305 

pitcher, then too death ensues. Here the blood has 
completed its tour of the body and has returned to 
the starting. 

"Or the wheel be broken at the cistern." Had 
Solomon said, "Or the circuit be broken at the cis- 
tern," he would not have been more explicit. We 
said that there is a physiological difference between 
man and dog. We grant that all hair is hair, whether 
from man or dog; that all bone is bone, whether from 
man or dog. The former is but a covering, a protec- 
tion for a something, the covering a very nothing; 
the latter are but sills, sleepers, joists, and rafters — 
framework of a house, in which something lives. 
This framework is nothing but iron and rock. The 
life is all. "The blood is the life." The blood is 
composed of a thin, colorless liquid, filled with red 
disks or cells. These cells vary in size in the differ- 
ent animals, and man has a cell in size peculiarly 
man's. These cells are so small that it would re- 
quire thirty-five hundred, laid side by side, to meas- 
ure an inch; it would take eighteen thousand, placed 
one upon the other, to make a column that high. One 
of these little red disks from human blood is only 
about one two-hundred-and-twenty-billionth of a cu- 
bic inch. Then the difference between man and dog 
is great enough to be detected in one two-hundred- 
and-twenty-billionth of a cubic inch of blood, wheth- 
er of man or dog. So conclusive is this that the testi- 
mony of blood is taken before the courts. A murder 
had been committed, the deed was done with an ax, 
after which the ax had been carefully cleansed. In 
the eye of the ax, between the metal and the handle, 
a small quantity of blood was found. This answered 
20 



306 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

for examination and the conviction of the murderer. 

See this same silent particle, so small that its story 

must come through some magnifying-glass to reach 

the perception of judge and jurors. It uttered one 

sentence only: "I am human blood." The story was 

not gainsaid, its veracity not questioned. On this 

testimony a man was hung. Tell me the sum of the 

difference. 

The Body after Death. 

It is not our aim to intentionally spring a mooted 
point nor to arouse a controversy, but to shun both. 
As for the resurrection of the body, that is nothing 
more to me than where I shall get the next draught 
of air or the next suit of clothes. If new bodies are 
fashionable, then I'll have a new one; if we take the 
old ones again, none will be out of style or fashion. 
We should not let our minds go far enough to specu- 
late on our garb in heaven. It surely is enough that 
we spend so much of our earthly lives thinking of 
what we shall wear here. You will be clothed free, 
my brother. The subject of this chapter has been 
the theme of skeptical chemists and philosophers to 
the injury of the Christian religion. These are the 
questions that we are hunting for. In this instance 
it will spring a question upon which the Christian 
world is not agreed. If we should shake up any on 
this matter, be sure that that is no part of our busi- 
ness, and that we will give you something to think 
about worth far more than any benefits coming from 
an argument as to what we shall be. The great 
question is: "What are we now?" The teaching is 
about this: When I die, the elements of my body 
broken up by chemical forces and dissolved, are scat- 



THE PLUMB-LINK 307 

tered at the grave's mouth, absorbed by the air, car- 
ried away by the winds, or taken up by the vegeta- 
ble kingdom as food for it; or these elements, ab- 
sorbed by the air are breathed by countless numbers, 
and then go to build up new bodies for other men, 
beasts, etc. — that is, the elements of my body after 
death may go to make bone, muscle, and flesh for 
myriads of men, beasts, fowls, insects, and reptiles. 
These die, and these again are dissolved and again 
scattered. The grasses that have absorbed elements 
of dead bodies are eaten by the animal kingdom until 
our dust is so widely diffused over the earth that it 
will be impossible to collect them on the great day. 
Therefore there can be no resurrection of the dead. 
So our religion is vain, is nothing. Some have looked 
upon this with fear, have doubted, trembled, fell — 
doubted for want of light, trembled for lack of wis- 
dom, fell for want of strength. It mattered not 
whether they were believers in the resurrection of 
the body or not. This startling fact deters many, no 
doubt, in the very outset of their researches. We 
will say for the comfort of those already at ease and 
to dispel the cloud from those who doubt and to 
equalize the circulation of those who tremble and to 
lift up the fallen that neither infidels, chemists, nor 
philosophers are the authors of this doctrine, that it 
is as plainly taught in the Bible as any other doc- 
trine. Other doctrines have given rise to many opin- 
ions from the great abundance of testimony touching 
them. This one comes in few terms, about which no 
dispute can arise. How passing strange that the 
stone of stumbling was broken and the stronghold of 
infidelitv stormed thousands of years before their 



308 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

adherents were born! The teachings of chemistry 
are that matter is persistent in space — that is, no 
two bodies can occupy the same space at the same 
time — and that it is persistent in time — that is, it is 
indestructible. There is no evidence that in the 
course of nature or by any of the operations of art 
matter is either called into existence or annihilated. 
It may be changed from state to state thousands of 
times without the smallest loss. A pound of ice con- 
verted into water or steam continues to weigh ex- 
actly a pound. When fuel is burned or water disap- 
pears by evaporation or our own bodies are resolved 
into earth and air it is only the migration of mat- 
ter through the cycle of natural transformations. 
Forms alone are destroyed; matter remains imper- 
ishable. How closely are life and death linked to- 
gether! Oxygen, the thing that life needs most, 
oftenest is its deadly foe; it would destroy all organ- 
ized beings, and, pursuing them to the tomb, decom- 
pose and dissolve their structure, carrying back their 
elements to the quiescent mineral world. When we 
die, our bodies, under physical forces, are broken 
down to the molecule. Chemistry completes the 
liberation of atoms by splitting the molecules, thus 
separating the very elements themselves. These 
separated elements are unlike the compound which 
their union forms. Hebrews xi. 1-3: "Now faith is 
the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of 
things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a 
good report. Through faith we understand that the 
worlds were framed by the word of God, so that 
things which are seen were not made of things which 
do appear." We challenge the learning of the world 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 309 

for a better illustration of the atomic theory. We 
challenge the theologians of the world for a better 
illustration of what faith is. Faith is a substance 
as is a grain of salt. Faith is the evidence of things 
not seen — this grain of salt is only visible, tangible 
evidence of unseen atoms. " Through faith we un- 
derstand that the worlds were framed [by word], 
. . . so that things which are seen were not made 
of things which do appear." "The worlds were 
framed," were put together, built up of unseen 
things. It is believed that these invisible atoms 
have shapes and that compounds are in a measure 
determined not by the atoms that make them so 
much as by the manner in which these atoms are 
brought together. The worlds were truly framed; 
no other word in our vocabulary can take the place of 
this one! Not our world only, but worlds — all are 
framed in the same way. "According to the faith of 
the old alchemists the earthly elements were ruled 
by the magical influence of the stars. It was a pro- 
phetic dream, and has been fulfilled in the consum- 
mate researches of modern science, which has given 
us a true celestial chemistry. The spectrum of the 
stars has its bands of absorption, and Mr. Kuther- 
ford, of New York, has discovered a coincidence be- 
tween several of the dark lines of Arcturus and those 
of the sun, these lines being possible indications of 
the chemical conditions of their sources. The light 
of the stars also contains a positive chemical ener- 
gy.'' "So that things which are seen were not made 
of things which do appear." 

Bodies are of two kinds, according to their make- 
up of invisible elements. These are simple and com- 



310 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

pound. Compound bodies are such as can be de- 
composed or separated into simpler parts or ele- 
ments. Simple bodies, on the contrary, can not be 
thus separated. Water is a compound, and can be 
resolved into two invisible gases, but neither of 
these can be again decomposed. Water is not made 
of the things that do appear; these things are invis- 
ible. Brass may be separated into copper and zinc, 
but no one has yet been able to obtain from these 
anything besides copper and zinc. Atoms are but 
invisible bricks, stones, lumber, metals, sands, that 
are framed together, making all the forms of the 
many substances that we see around us. Our earth, 
with its three kingdoms, all the planets, our sun, all 
the suns and systems, were framed of these. The 
" things which are seen were not made of things 
which do appear," not made of visible things; atoms 
do not appear. Faith is the beginning, the corner, of 
the Christian survey. Now the great apostle tells us 
that through it, using it as an illustration, we are 
taught how the worlds were put together. Like na- 
ture's vast laboratory, our inward, invisible, inde- 
structible elements are framing us as living stones 
for that spiritual building, that house not made with 
hands, eternal in the heavens. 

The atomic theory is as plainly taught by the apos- 
tle as by any work on chemistry. He tells us how 
the worlds were framed, how these invisible things 
were put together. David is equally as accurate and 
simple in illustrating their separation. He says that 
it is like the splitting of wood. 

Let us see if faith is not the foundation as well of 
the business world. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 311 

Faith. 

It is a curious fact that while so many object to or 
even think the question of faith foolish when used as 
the power of God unto salvation to every one who 
will accept it as such, quite all the business of the 
United States is one, absolutely so, of faith. Here is 
my check on the bank at Dallas for twenty-five dol- 
lars. This check is a substance, an evidence to my 
banker, for the thing you hope for. You present this 
check, and the banker counts out to you twenty-five 
dollars. Be these paper, silver, or gold, they are in 
no respect like the check. A draft is a written order 
of one person or company upon another for payment 
of money. The form of a draft is: "Thomas Jones, at 
sight pay to the order of the First National Bank of 
Comanche, Tex., eight hundred (800) dollars, value 
received, and charge to the account of James Knox. 
To Tom Jones & Co., Nashville, Tenn." 

Will Mr. Jones pay these eight hundred dollars 
and charge same to James Knox? This is a question 
of faith with Mr. Jones. I go to a bank of discount 
to borrow money. Faith in the security alone will 
pass the money through the window to me. The 
Comptroller's report shows that ninety-four per cent 
of all our business is transacted thus. It is a 
transfer of credit, based alone on faith. This does 
not depend upon wealth every time, but something 
higher: absolute faith in the man, together with 
his ability to pay. A stock exchange is an asso- 
ciation of brokers and dealers in stocks and other 
securities. United States bonds are but notes se- 
cured by the government. Our legal-tender notes, 
greenbacks, are but promises to pay on demand. So 



312 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the fundamental doctrine of the Bible is the founda- 
tion of commercial intercourse, home and foreign. 

To the Christian " faith is the substance of things 
hoped for, the evidence of things not seen;" to the 
world faith is the substance of things expected, evi- 
dence of things not seen. The difference is the differ- 
ence in the meanings of "hope" and "expectation." 
Hope is a desire of some good, with at least a slight 
expectation of obtaining it; it expects a good desired; 
it originates in desire. Expectation is founded on 
some reasons which render the event probable. 
Hope is directed to some good; expectation is direct- 
ed to good or evil. 

Let us return to the text. Psalm cxli. 7: "Our 
bones are scattered at the grave's mouth, as when 
one cutteth and cleaveth wood." Here the two 
changes that our bodies undergo at the grave's 
mouth are illustrated by the chopping and the split- 
ting of wood. "As when," just like. These two 
changes define well the domain of the two forces that 
are working all the changes we see around us, as well 
as the thousands that we can not see, but can realize 
with certainty are going on. The former, "as when 
one cutteth" wood, illustrates the physical change, 
a change that does not destroy the properties of mat- 
ter, but separates into single or individual proper- 
ties or parts, the molecule. The cutting of wood into 
individual sticks does not destroy its identity. This 
stick cut off is in every respect like that from which 
it was cut. The flesh drops from the bones; these 
break under weight; their crumbling weakness can 
no longer sustain, till each particle is cut and sev- 
ered from the bulk. The severed particles hold with 



THE PLUMB LINE. 313 

powerful grasp all the former properties of the body. 
Philosophy has done its work, leaves the completion 
or further dissolution to the maul and wedges of the 
chemist, and then retires from the field. 

"As when one . . . cleaveth wood." The wood- 
chopper's sticks are turned over to the man of the 
maul and the wedge. When he is done, a load of rails 
is the result. He has destroyed the identity of the 
stick, but not the individuals that make it. Chemis- 
try takes the individual particles as philosophy left 
them, and finishes the separation by splitting these 
particles and giving their several atoms to the winds 
as they call at the grave's mouth for them. Psalm 
ciii. 16: "For the wind passeth over it, and it is gone; 
and the place thereof shall know it no more." Job 
xxx. 22: "Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou caus- 
est me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance." 
Wherever the wind blows it carries these dissolved 
substances, to be deposited here, yonder, wherever 
chance or determination may direct. Isaiah xxvi. 
19: "Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
body shall they arise. Awake and sing, ye that 
dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, 
and the earth shall cast out the dead." 

"The earth shall cast out the dead." By this act 
the dead are not to rise, but shall be cast out. "For 
thy dew is as the dew of herbs." This is the how 
cast out and the purpose. It becomes dew for herbs, 
will feed these, showered as gently upon them as fall 
the dews of heaven. We have them now in the winds 
and herbs. Are they rebreathed? Job xxi. 33: "The 
clods of the valley shall be sweet unto him, and every 
man shall draw after him, as there are innumerable 



314 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

before him.-' "Draw," to inhale, to take air into tlie 
lungs. Johnson says that "it expresses an action, 
gradual or continuous, and leisurely." 

These dissolved elements are showered as lightly 
and gently upon the herbs as the dews of heaven that 
nourish them. So these herbs are devoured by the 
beasts or wither and throw these elements back 
again to earth and air. This is the channel for the 
bones that were scattered at the grave's mouth and 
lifted up by the winds. How are these elements pre- 
served, kept up with, followed through all their in- 
tricate changes? There is a bookkeeper that charges 
and credits us as we draw upon the world or 
transfer its bounties to other claimants. In the se- 
quel of this chapter we wil 1 give you some extraor- 
dinary bookings from the practical matters of life as 
startling in proportion to the ability of these book- 
keepers as is the great question of which we are talk- 
ing. Psalm cxxxix. 15, 1G: "My substance was not 
hid from thee, when I was made in secret, and curi- 
ously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth. 
Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unper- 
fect; and in thy book all my members were written, 
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet 
there was none of them." Let us step aside with 
one remark. Were revelation only a fable gotten up 
by man, it would have looked more manlike to have 
left oat these stupendous flights of faith that tax 
even the minds and hearts of those who see the beau- 
ty of holiness and feel the touch of a gentle hand at 
every turn in life. To speak well of their ability 
shows doubly the foolishness of such a policy. Now 
would it not seem an easier matter to book, take care 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 315 

of, and collect these scattered elements than to book 
them when as vet there were none of them? Most 
assuredly so. We have followed man, hand in hand, 
to the grave; philosophy and revelation have scat- 
tered him there precisely alike ; but here his philoso- 
phy must perish with him. We will bridge the 
chasm from the rock of ages and show him up as lie 
shall be when the winds return to him these bor- 
rowed elements. Thus he is rushed with rashness to 
impute as an impossibility to God a question that 
man can not philosophically account for. He meas- 
ures the work by his own capacity, looks for a theory 
in his own philosophy. The one is as vain as the 
other is foolish and weak. As revelations have set- 
tled the first part of this great question satisfactorily 
to philosophy, philosophers shall be made the richer 
by adhering to the great truths of revelation. Job, 
David, and Isaiah stood hand in hand with scien- 
tists and declared with them that our bodies are 
scattered at the grave's mouth, chemically split into 
atoms, there assume new forms, build up new mole- 
cules in the vegetable kingdom, are breathed and re- 
breathed, and will continue until the earth shall 
cease to "cast out the dead." It would seem unjust 
for us to introduce new witnesses now; it might 
weaken the chain of testimony and furnish grounds 
for criticism. If our witnesses have deviated by a 
hair's breadth from the teachings of philosophy, let 
the world challenge them. The witnesses that went 
down with philosophy came to the stand and testi- 
fied at their own instance. Let us look at the char- 
acter of these witnesses. One is the breathings of a 
man whose property had all been swept away, whose 



316 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

person was afflicted with a most painful and loath- 
some disease, his children taken from him, and he in 
sackcloth and ashes; one is a prophet of high re- 
pute; the other is a most opulent and powerful 
king. Here is the testimony brought from the ex- 
tremes of society. The man of the greatest misfor- 
tunes, the humblest station, says: "I know." The 
great king upon his throne declares that "he shall 
bring me up." Between these two greatest extremes 
rests the hope of all flesh. These are the extended 
arms of the compasses that circumscribe all human- 
ity. There is one nice feature that we notice in the 
testimony of these men : they speak for self. I may, 
by inference, conclude that if these men are to be 
thus resurrected then I shall too. Let us attain the 
point beyond every inference and say, as did Job, "I 
know that I shall see God," and with David, "He 
shall quicken me." Such are the characters of the 
men that we propose to introduce again, men of un- 
impeachable characters. The law of evidence is that 
when a witness or witnesses testify without hesitan- 
cy to facts that we can demonstrate, that we know to 
be true, we are bound to give them full faith and 
credit touching questions of which we have no other 
means of finding out or methods for demonstrating 
their truth. This testimony is the more valid from 
the fact that these men were left free to make these 
statements or let them forever rest. They were not 
pressed by public sentiment for ends of profit, nor 
were these questions shaped to suit a then existing 
theory of science. Psalm xvii. 15: "As for me, I will 
behold thy face in righteousness: I shall be satisfied, 
when I awake, with thv likeness." Mv own likeness, 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 317 

the reflected image of thyself, the very likeness with 
which I was created, for then I was like him. "So 
Grod created man in his own image, in the image of 
God created he him; male and female created he 
tkern." Psalm Ixxi. 20: "Thou, which hast showed 
me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, 
and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the 
earth." The very me that had seen great and sore 
troubles, the same me that went into the depths of 
the earth, this very me shall he quicken again; the 
identical me that had been quickened before shall be 
brought up. Psalm xvi. 9: "Therefore my heart is 
glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest 
in hope." With David the gladness of heart is not 
all, the rejoicing of his glory is not the end, but "my 
flesh also shall rest in hope." He saw beyond these 
scattered elements unity; he saw hope, an easy, rest- 
ing, patient hope for the flesh. Isaiah xxvi. 19: 
"Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead 
body shall they arise. Awake, and sing, ye that 
dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and 
the earth shall cast out the dead." "Dead men shall 
live, together with my dead body shall they arise." 
Our bones may be scattered at the grave's mouth, 
may be carried away by the winds, become life-giving 
dew to herbs, these herbs, together with all flesh, go- 
ing back to the earth; the earth finally "shall cast 
out the dead." Let us again bring up our witness 
from the land of Uz, he who stood hand in hand with 
science in discussing the higher laws that control the 
universe, that rotate the earth on its axis, or lead it 
in an elliptical path around the sun. No question 
has he ever asked so pointedly or answered so em- 



318 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

phatically as this one. Job xiv. 14: "If a man die, 
shall he live again?" Job xix. 25-27: "For I know 
[no doubt in Job's mind] that my Redeemer liveth, 
and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the 
earth : and though after my skin worms destroy this 
body, yet in my flesh shall I see God: whom I shall 
see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not 
another; though my reins be consumed within me," 
Job answers the very question: "Mine eyes shall be- 
hold, and not another." "Although I may have 
breathed particles from all the bodies in the land of 
Uz, though my bones be scattered at the grave's 
mouth, though they go away with the winds, though 
thou dissolveth my substance and it becomes as dew 
to the herbs, though every man draw after me as I 
have drawn or breathed of those before me, the Book- 
keeper — who understands all the entries, single and 
double; one whose perspective pen made this entry, 
' Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being unper- 
fect; and in thy book all my members were written, 
which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet 
there was none of them' — he it is will follow these 
scattered fragments till the earth cast out the dead. 
Then he will give me back my own eyes, and not an- 
other's. He booked my eye before it was, gave it to 
me when it is, charged the world with it, payable, 
when the earth shall cast out the dead. In the final 
settlement I am to be trusted with the very same eye 
that had loved to scan the heights and depths of its 
own native land, to mark out her rivers and far-ofi 
seas, that speculated upon the starry worlds above; 
the same eye that had with delight marked the cattle 
and herds on a thousand hills; that overlooked the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 319 

greatest prosperity in all the land of Uz; the same 
eye that had shed rivers of tears when wrung by the 
severest affliction; that frowned indignantly upon 
the upbraiding Shuhite and his coadjutors; the same 
eye that sought out the causes it knew not — with this 
eye am I to see God, when at the latter day he shall 
stand upon the earth, the first-fruit of his reappear- 
ing." 

Let us now look at some of the mammoith corpora- 
tions of to-day, examine their books, and see if the 
practical bookkeeper does not have questions as 
complex, proportionate to the ability to solve. There 
is a large business corporation of whichutwo hundred 
million dollars constitute the capital or business 
body. Stocks and bonds are bought and sold, dis- 
count and premium adjusted, interest and brokerage 
settled. The year closes, the books are balanced, 
and twelve million dollars are the profits. Making 
the account accurate to one-ten-thousandth of a dol- 
lar, and counting each one of these an atom, we have 
two trillions of atoms invested; the open avenues of 
profit have drifted in one hundred and twenty bil- 
lions more, making a total of two trillions, one hun- 
dred and twenty billions. Now in so vast a business, 
where the sums handled are so large, these money 
atoms may profitably and tangibly be reduced one 
hundred times smaller, yet many times larger than 
an atom of the human body. This would give us two 
hundred trillions. In this business, during the year 
two hundred trillions of these little elements have 
flown through the coffers; if two entries are made, 
then four hundred trillions have been noticed by the 
pen. In all the changes and transfers the books 



320 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

must show the very day each of these elements came 
in, from whom, and for what purpose. Not one 
leaves without the notice of the bookkeeper; the date 
of its departure, to whom it went, and for what pur- 
pose, the books must show. The man who lias never 
been one hundred dollars ahead revolts at the idea of 
one man following so closely and so accurately after 
these little elements which revelation and experi- 
ence both teach have wings. So with the man that 
has made but small spiritual investments; yet it is 
so. This mone3^ed omnipotence numbers the hairs 
upon the head of every atom; not one of its spar- 
rows, much less an eagle, falls without its notice. 
It speaks railroads into existence, creates banks, 
blows upon the seas the breath of life that animates 
every ocean with mighty keels. By telegraph and 
telephone it makes all the cities on the continent 
stand on and occupy the same space, It is the cen- 
ter of gravity around which all the planets, great and 
small, together with their satellites, revolve. If it 
does not give heat and strength to these, it affords 
an example for mimicry to all. Every corporation 
swings around this as a great center. It gives to a 
nation's currency its value, sustains its declining 
credit, and controls its revenues. This is man. How 
unreasonable the story, yet how true! God began 
his man speculation many thousand years ago on a 
small scale. In purpose this speculation suffered 
the same fluctuations of gain and loss, premium and 
discount. Not one human frame of all God's crea- 
tion contains the number of atoms this business body 
does. This business body may have had several 
clerks. David says: "In thy book all my members 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 321 

were written." All the laws are his clerks, book- 
keepers, servants, and these book the incoming and 
the outgoing atoms as they fall within the province 
of a particular law. The one seems to me no more 
difficult than the other. But I am told that our liv- 
ing bodies are continually changing, that none of the 
elements I possessed ten years ago are now mine. 
Science teaches that; perhaps it is true. My neigh- 
bor, who is a physician, had the smallpox twenty- 
two years ago. According to the theory of taking on 
new bodies every seven years, he is now on the third 
since he was afflicted with this disease. Every year 
makes him older, still the marks are there. To me 
the strangest of all is that he tells me he has waited 
on several patients with that disease since he had it, 
but has never taken it again. Has he, in his taking 
on new bodies, managed to breathe particles of 
bodies that had been infected before? I had the 
measles several years ago. I may have a new 
body, yet every time I take cold I am annoyed by the 
same unpleasant taste contracted by the measles. 
One says that he could take the measles but once, 
then afterward he is safe against that disease. 
If I lost by having this disease, I gained the knowl- 
edge of knowing that I am to have it no more. 
The same is true of many diseases. Yet no truer 
than the theory that I shall die but once. That 
is a vaccination against every ill, every contagion, 
every infection, even the one that began in the gar- 
den. It will leave no scars, but do away with those 
that now exist, and I shall look upon another death 
as my physician looks upon the smallpox. Thus, 
amid all our boasting, we find many strange "hows" 
21 



322 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and "whys." Because we do not understand them 
makes them none the less true. There is thought to 
be a strange sympathy between a living body and a 
lost member of that body, one for which we can not 
account. It falls beyond the reach of every known 
law and baffles our reason till we thrust it from us as 
a problem that we can not solve. If there is a sym- 
pathy between the living man and one of his lost 
members, who can tell the depth of that sympathy 
when we come to separate from or lay in sleep all our 
members? Near Smithville, Tenn., lived a lad who 
was employed in a sawmill. He had the misfortune 
to have one of his arms wrenched from the socket at 
the shoulder. For the first few days his rest was not 
less than might be expected from so severe a hurt. 
After this his pain grew intense; he complained of 
his hand hurting, that buried hand. It would be im- 
possible to picture here the pains, the agonies, as 
they were told. At that time I lived within ten miles 
of the scene of the accident. Every drug that had 
the power of allaying pain was given, but to no ef- 
fect. On examining the buried arm the hand was 
found to be clinched till the ends of the fingers were 
imbedded in the palm. The hand was straightened 
and redressed, and it is said that the pain ceased. 
The parties that told this were unimpeachable. 
They stated that there could not have elapsed more 
than a minute between the time of straightening the 
clinched fingers of the lost hand and the cessation 
of the pain. Within six miles of where I lived at 
this time there was a man who had the misfortune 
to lose a leg. The doctors were called to allay the 
pain in a buried foot. Physicians were summoned 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 323 

from many miles away to relieve, if possible, that in- 
tense pain in a lost and buried foot. The accident 
entailing the loss of an arm, related above, happened 
not more than fifteen miles from the residence of this 
man, and this strange precedent suggested the pro- 
priety of examining the lost foot. On taking it up 
it was found that the box in which it had been buried 
was too small, and that the foot had been pressed 
rather tightly into the box. The moment it was taken 
out the sufferer found ease. This story was told by 
as good people as the county contained, and I am per- 
sonally acquainted with all the parties. These cir- 
cumstances, having fallen under my own observa- 
tion, lead me to say that, though strange, there must 
be a potent sympathy between the living body and 
one -of its lost members. How far this sympathy 
will go, or how long it will last, I am unable to say. 
That such a sympathy does exist, many people be- 
lieve. 



CHAPTER XII. 

Joshua at Gibeon — The Miraculous Standing Still of the Sun, 
and the Stoppage of the Moon — The Foolishness of the 
World's Theory Touching This Miracle — Joshua's Knowledge 
Exceeded the Knowledge of the World Till the Nineteenth 
Century — Is Not Inferior to That — A Physical and a Spirit- 
ual Miracle — The Unsolved Question Solved — Light the Cause 
of Planetary Motion. 

Joshua at Gibeox. 

Joshua x. 12-14: "Then spake Joshua to the Lord 
in the day when the Lord delivered up the Amorites 
before the children of Israel, and he said in the sight 
of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; and 
thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun 
stood still, and the moon stayed, until the people had 
avenged themselves upon their enemies. ... So 
the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and hasted 
not to go down about a whole day. And there was 
no day like that before it or after it, that the Lord 
harkened unto the voice of a man." Joshua com- 
manded the sun to stand. For this he has become 
the subject of severe criticism from certain charac- 
ters. It was stated in an infidel paper some years 
ago that if Joshua had been inspired he would have 
known that day and night were not due to sun-mo- 
tion, but to earth-motion, and that he should have 
simply commanded the earth to stand. Is it not 
wonderful that Joshua never thought of doing this? 
We learn two things: God's plan differs from man's, 
and that man's vanity is sometimes as limitless as 
space and still more empty. The foolishness of such 
criticism is the more apparent when we consider how 
(324) 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 325 

little man knows about the sun and how recently he 
has acquired that little. This very sun-motion of 
which Joshua talks was not known; no motion was 
accorded to the sun till the nineteenth century, ex- 
cept that foolish notion that the earth was the cen- 
ter, and that the sun rose and set by its own motion, 
producing the phenomenon of day. Even now (1893) 
it is not known which way he is traveling, the extent 
of his orbit, the length of his year, nor the center 
around which he is moving. We are astonished that 
any man, even a New England editor, should offer 
suggestions as to how this matter should have been 
accomplished. He reminds me that Phaethon, long 
ago, did not get all the foolish presumptions. Ovid 
gives an account of one, Phaethon, that earnestly be- 
sought of Phcebus and obtained the right and gov- 
ernment of the winged horses for a day. The horses 
are led from their lofty stalls vomiting fire. The 
sounding bits are added. The advice given to him is 
to spare the spur and use the rein. This audacious 
boy seizes the thongs and occupies the light chariot 
with joy, and the race begins. A want of weight in 
the driver makes the load light. The horses that 
draw the sun perceive this and leave the way early. 
The sun moves in other tracks. Phaethon becomes 
alarmed, and regrets that he ever touched the pater- 
nal horses. He drops the rein s, and the horses roam, 
rushing this way and that without law. Fields are 
scorched and trees burned, cities catch fire from the 
nearness of the sun, people and nations are burned 
to ashes, rivers and oceans are dried up, and ruin is 
the result. So we think that man's capacity may be 
large to suggest or his foolishness blind him to un- 



326 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

dertake, but weak and ismall when lie comes to exe- 
cute such gigantic deeds. Joshua knew that the sun 
had this onward motion and more. David taught it. 
Habakkuk testifies that they did stand still, and that 
afterward they moved on. Josephus says that the 
day was lengthened at or about this time. If that be 
true, there should be no cavil over the "how" it was 
performed. The question is: Was it done? Revela- 
tion and history say: "Yes." If this took place at 
the command of Joshua, the simplest of us know that 
the power to do these things was not Joshua's. 
Then, if not his, whose was it? How was it done? 
Why was it done? These are questions that we pro- 
pose to answer. 

1. It was purely a miracle. The fact that the sun 
did stand still and that the moon did stop at the 
command of Joshua makes it a miracle. Josephus 
says that the day was lengthened at or about this 
time. On the same page you will find a foot-note 
that apologizes for this miracle. God help us that 
we may never become so weak as to offer an apology 
for his miraculous works or to try to bend them to 
suit our little theories! We are glad that he has at 
various times wrought these wonders above the arm 
of every law, beyond the field of our philosophy. We 
believe that they were necessary at one time, were 
great helps in the early lessons of faith. But the 
foot-note says: "Whether the lengthening of the day 
by the standing still of the sun and the moon was 
physical and real by the miraculous stoppage of the 
diurnal motion of the earth for about half a revolu- 
tion, or whether only apparent by aerial phosphori, 
imitating the sun and moon as stationary so long, 



THE rLUMB-LINE. 327 

while the clouds and the night hid the real ones, and 
this parhelion, or mock sun, affording sufficient light 
for Joshua's pursuit and complete victory, can not 
now be determined. Philosophers and astronomers 
will naturally incline to this latter hypothesis/' If 
I were either a philosopher or an astronomer, I 
would resent this. You see that this gives neither 
light nor relief. This apology grants it a miracle 
still. All that I can see in this is that it robs this 
miracle of its grandeur by substituting a less one in 
its stead, implying that God is not able to do so great 
a thing. To admit a miracle possible does away with 
the idea of a limit to its exercise. This aerial phos- 
phori phenomenon, occurring at the command of 
Joshua and disappearing with the accomplishment 
of his plan, makes it none the less complex, and the 
miracle is made a mockery by substituting in its 
stead both a miracle and a deception, for then the 
great and good Joshua either practised a willing 
fraud or was an accomplice in the matter, neither of 
which is either just or consistent with common rea- 
son. It was purely a miracle wrought over the sun 
and moon. To me this implies an interruption or 
rather a suspension of law not to be accounted for 
by any mode of reasoning consistent with our philos- 
ophy. If philosophy accounts it consistent, then it 
drops from the list of miracles. Philosophy can not 
deduce from this a law nor measure it by her now ex- 
isting laws. Then we are left only to say that it is a 
miracle; that the whole is sealed in the Word, and 
can never be philosophically understood by man, and 
can be employed by God only, whose servants these 
ordinances are. 



328 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

2. How it was done. "Sun, stand thou still upon 
Gibeon; iand thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon," 
was the order; and the report that followed was, 
"And the sun stood still, and the moon stayed, until 
the people had avenged themselves upon their ene- 
mies." This is &11 that we know of the physical 
how. The time may come when we will know. 
Some have ridiculed Joshua's apparent lack of 
knowledge in issuing this order. Now we want to 
show that as far as the connection could permit 
Joshua manifested as much knowledge concerning 
the sun and moon as we know to-day, and much more 
than was known one hundred years ago. Where did 
he get his information ? Not from the world surely, 
for it knew nothing about it. Ask your mind this 
question again and again, and living water will come 
forth. This is the smitten rock that watered Israel's 
hosts, and so will it water you. But we are examin- 
ing Joshua's geography in this how it was done. 
"Sun, stand thou still." We have shown in another 
place that the sun has two motions. That is the 
teaching of astronomy. It has an onward and a ro- 
tary motion. Now had Joshua simply commanded 
the sun to stand, would that imply more than a for- 
ward motion? Most assuredly not. Is it not pre- 
sumable that he would have said: "Stop, sun?" 
Why put the still to it, if it had only one motion? 
To illustrate, I say to a friend as he passes: "Stop!" 
He checks his onward movement. Suppose that I 
wish to make a discrimination in some fine feature, 
one that requires that he should be motionless. 1 
say: "Stand still!" I put the "still" to it to check not 
the forward motion, but certainly those lesser bodily 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 329 

motions. The evidence that Joshua understood that 
the sun had both a forward and also a lesser bodily 
motion is manifested by the command issued by him 
to that body: "Stand," stop moving forward, be still, 
motionless. Another evidence that he understood 
truly the motions of these bodies is that the order 
was not given to the moon as to the sun, and the re- 
port that follows justifies both Joshua and this con- 
clusion: "And the sun stood still, and the moon 
stayed." The sun has a forward motion and a mo- 
tion on its own axis. To have commanded the sun 
simply to stop would not of necessity, so far as we 
know, have stopped its lesser motion. The moon 
has only a forward movement in reality. The moon 
presents to the earth the same hemisphere all the 
time. The result of this is that when the moon has 
passed around the earth it has made one rotation an 
its axis. Now comes the nice feature in Joshua's in- 
spiration. To command the moon to stop, to stand, 
without putting the "still" to it, would of necessity 
stop every motion that the moon has. The world's 
wisest men could not have made this discrimination 
three thousand years after the days of Joshua. 
Joshua speaks to the Lord in the sight of Israel; 
with uplifted hand he bids the sun stand still and the 
moon stay, motionless, breathless, pulseless, and see 
the accomplishment of God's plan and purpose, the 
fulfilment of his promise, the seed of Jacob laying 
hold on the promise pledged by an oath, now sealed 
by the greatest miracle that can be wrought over 
the matter of our system. We have our conjectures 
on mysteries, while we can only look upon a miracle 
with a strange sense of awe that comes from the re- 



330 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

gions beyond the law and its philosophy. If we 
think it strange, Isaiah made it none the less so. 
Isaiah xxviii. 21: "He shall be wroth as in the valley 
of Gibeon, that he may do his work, his strange 
work; and bring to pass his act, his strange act." 
Speaking of these luminaries vand this miracle, we 
are told how the work was done, thus: "They have 
not wandered from the day that he created them: 
they have not forsaken their way from ancient gen- 
erations, unless it were when God enjoined them by 
the command of his servant." They were enjoined 
by God through his servant. "Enjoined" is a legal 
term, and means to forbid judicially, to direct a legal 
injunction, to stop proceedings. This admits that 
the motions of these luminaries are in conformity 
with and in obedience to law, and that by a due 
course of law they were stopped; that man, the ap- 
pointed instrument, served the writ, and that God, 
their Creator, issued the writ. Then it could not be 
even a violation of law. Injunctions are common 
papers that may be issued by any and every court' in 
the land. These, when served by the appointed au- 
thority, become barriers to the proceedings of the 
highest courts in the nation. Still the law is not vio- 
lated, but the thing is done in conformity to the law. 
Joshua's plan was not only lawful and a success, but 
the most beautiful and the grandest. Through the 
injunction in his hands he measures arms with the 
greatest force known to us, and the parent of all our 
forces. There was no possible chance for this fool- 
ish phosphor! theory, nor a deception in any part of 
this performance. It would have been no miracle in 
the eyes of that people to tell them that the earth 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 331 

stopped its rotation. They did not know that it had 
this motion; they believed it stood, and even till 
the middle of the sixteenth century it was not known 
that the earth turned on its axis. If we look at the 
man plan, we see the man object: to make a fight, 
conquest, slaughter, only for the end attained by do- 
minion, man's glory. God's plan was as far above 
this as was his object above man's object. It was 
done for the sake of the miracle, and not as a necessi- 
ty for the accomplishment of God's purpose. To 
have stopped the earth by direct order would not 
have appeared as a miracle in the eyes of friend or 
foe. Leaving man's bloody ambition out, to have 
stopped the earth would not, at the present, be the 
true scientific engineer's method for lengthening the 
day. We know that liability to danger made securi- 
ty by its being a miracle. Then liability to danger, 
wreck, or ruin is not to be weighed in the matter. 
Let us see which is the better plan, to stop the earth 
or the sun — I mean from an engineer's standpoint. 
In the first instance the earth bears the whole shock; 
in the latter, the shock is distributed by an opposite 
relation being maintained by each, if the forces that 
hold these worlds in their places have anything to do 
in controlling their motions. To stop all, the shock, 
if any, is borne alike by each particle composing our 
system. To illustrate: Take a steam-boiler able to 
sustain a pressure of one thousand pounds per inch. 
Apply the fire, and the steam generates gradually. 
As gradually the force is distributing itself; every 
inch is bearing its equal part of the pressure. The 
hand on the steam-gage registers a thousand pounds. 
This is done with perfect safety to the boiler 



332 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

and to all within its range. But suppose that one 
square inch is to sustain the tremendous pressure 
of all the inches, and that suddenly; then conies a 
rent, a crush, a catastrophe. But, instead, suppose 
that the engineer draws the fire; then the force or 
pressure leaves each inch alike, till the pressure is all 
gone, when the engineer says, "Engine, stand still!" 
and all is motionless. He lays his hand on the force, 
when he withdraws that which begets this force. 
The pressure leaves each inch alike. In the first the 
relation of each inch was one of equal pressure; now 
the relation of each to each is the same. In other 
words, the relation has not been disturbed; the force 
is dead to all alike. Again, he applies the heat, the 
steam rises, and the gage indicates a thousand 
pounds pressure. He opens the throttle, and the en- 
gine begins its motion. By this motion the pressure 
is drawn, every inch contributing its equal share to 
this moving force. The ponderous drive-wheel is 
revolving hundreds of times per minute, while the 
piston flies back and forth with each revolution. 
All this time the pressure per inch remains the same 
— that is, each inch bears the same strain. The mov- 
ing of one lever stops the whole machine. The cen- 
tral force is cut off from that which it moves. Again, 
the force accumulates in accordance with its law of 
equal distribution. The engineer is able to stop its 
motion with a very high pressure without danger. 
To stop any one wheel beyond the drive-wheel or 
the throttle would endanger the whole machine. 
Joshua addressed himself to the sun, the center of 
motion, the repository of all our forces, the throttle 
of our system, and stopped the whole machine — the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 666 

true philosophical course. This miracle was not 
done under a bushel nor in a manner to produce 
doubt or unbelief, nor was it in any way a deception; 
it swung out from the sun, was visible to all the 
world. It did not in appearance conflict with the 
then existing theory that the sun rose and set by his 
own motion, thus producing day and night. 

"That he may do his work, his strange work; and 
bring to pass his act, his strange act." What was 
strange about this miracle? Certainly not the bare 
fact that it was a miracle; Israel had been seeing 
miracles every day and night for forty years. It 
was his spiritual food. It did not consist in the fact 
that he would stop the sun to lengthen a "day, for to 
them this was the true course. To him there was 
nothing strange about it. I speak of this as it 
seemed to them. Isaiah denominates it a strange 
work and a strange act. The work and the act were 
strange ones; the appearance of the work, the pur- 
poses, and the results were not strange, but the very 
act. If it was dependent upon the theory of this day, 
then the act was a strange one; had it depended upon 
the theory of that day, now it would be a strange act. 
Based upon the theory of to-day, to-day's process 
would have stopped the earth; then it is still a 
strange act. That does not affect it in the least; the 
procedure was lawful; the world says that the day 
was lengthened, and the purposes of the miracle 
were accomplished. There is more: we do not think 
that anything was made older, neither the world, 
man nor beast. We hinge the thought on the idea 
that it was not a necessity, but a miracle of wonder- 
ful stoppage — not of worlds only, but of time. We 



334 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

believe that when we shall see the inhabitants of the 
other planets they will tell the story of this great 
event. Were they in it? How much, I do not know. 
I do know that the sun, moon, and earth were in- 
volved; that the sun is the parent of all our forces. 
This assures us that all the sunlit planets of our sys- 
tem saw and felt and realized the stoppage in the 
father and leader of these motions. We said that 
nothing was made older. The earth and sun move 
on ; each sustains to the other the same relation that 
it did before — the season could not advance; the year 
continued just where the suspension left it; the dial 
that proclaimed twelve when the stoppage took place 
showed it to be twelve the moment these bodies 
moved on. This could not have been so had the rota- 
tion of the earth alone ceased, for the year would 
have been lengthened. "Sun, stand still," hold back 
the forces that move those that are dependent on 
thee for motion. All motion died in the earth as 
well as in the sun and moon. 

It was a miracle to friend and foe alike, these 
the two purposes: to strengthen Israel's faith and to 
terrify Israel's foes. Before we speak of the direct 
purposes of the miracle let us show that, as is com- 
monly thought, the object was not to lengthen the 
day to give Joshua time to avenge himself upon his 
enemies; this would make it a necessity. God was 
in the battle, and there are no necessities to him that 
would force him to prolong a day, no condition so 
straitened as to press him for time. The thought is 
blasphemous or pure profanity. What in the text 
seems an intimation of the purpose is dispelled by a 
closer examination. The Bible affords nowhere an 



THE TLUMB-LINE. 335 

intimation that the purpose to lengthen the day was 
that of time to do this work. All the attendant cir- 
cumstances in the lesson, the construction and the 
individual words, attest the correctness of this 
view. Joshua had taken and destroyed Ai as he 
did Jericho and her kings. Gibeon had made peace 
with Israel. Five kings of the Amorites had united 
and gone up to smite Gibeon because she had made 
peace with Joshua. The men of Gibeon, alarmed at 
this, sent to Joshua, at Gilgal, to come speedily 
against the kings of the Amorites. Joshua ascend- 
ed from Gilgal, he and all the people of war with 
him, and all the mighty men of valor. "And the 
Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have 
delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a 
man of them stand before thee." In the name of 
good sense, why lengthen a day to slaughter a peo- 
ple already delivered into the hands of Joshua? 
"Not a man of them shall stand before thee" — then 
lengthen a day to fight such a foe? stop the sun and 
moon to hew these down? Again: "It came to pass, 
as they fled from before Israel, and were in the going 
down to Beth-Horon, that the Lord cast down great 
stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and 
they died: they were more which died with hail- 
stones than they whom the children of Israel slew 
with the sword." Now with Joshua and all the peo- 
ple of war and all the mighty men of valor to fight 
an enemy bound and delivered, also the Lord to rain 
down stones upon them, then want a day to be pro- 
longed for this purpose? How foolish the idea! If 
that was the idea, why command the moon to stand, 
in order to lengthen a day of cloudless sunshine, and 



336 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that at noon? This is sufficient proof to convince a 
reflecting mind that this order was not issued to 
lengthen the day to make the fight, " He said in the 
sight of Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; 
and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon." "In the 
sight of Israel." This is where the performance took 
place. Why? We said that this was one of the ob- 
jects of the miracle. This would require a rehearsal 
of God's dealings and promises toward Israel for 
hundreds of years. It began with a promise made 
to Abraham and repeated to Jacob five hundred 
years before this. The beginning of this journey 
was wrought through miracles; all along the route 
of the sojourn in the wilderness miracles were 
wrought: flocks of quail were driven by the winds 
into the camp; from smitten rocks gushing streams 
broke forth; manna was rained continuously, which 
was their bread; a cloud rested upon the tabernacle 
by day, and a pillar of fire gleamed from it by night. 
These constituted, in a very great measure, the spir- 
itual food of Israel; they were as necessary to spirit- 
ual constancy as was the manna to a bodily support. 
Miracles were object-lessons, without which we be- 
lieve Israel's hosts would have very early returned, 
even to the taskmasters in the brick-kilns of Egypt. 
Now we come to the end of the journey; the land of 
promise is reached. The whole course has been sig- 
nalized by miracles that might soon be forgotten, as 
these pertained only to Israel; the greatest of them 
could only live as a part of the history of the chil- 
dren of Israel. The end is now reached. The whole 
is to be signalized by a miracle that shall make this 
day more illustrious than any other day that pre- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 337 

ceded it or shall ever come after it. While done in 
the sight of Israel, jet it is not limited to a sect, but 
to heathens alike; nor is it limited to a nation or na- 
tions, nor is it limited to the earth: the moon and 
sun pause submissively to the Arm that had made 
itself bare so often in reaching out spiritual food for 
his people. It was the greatest miracle ever wrought, i 
the accomplishment of the highest undertaking, the 
fulfilling of a promise, a seal of Joshua's acceptance 
with God. It was done also to strike terror to Is- 
rael's enemies. Ecclesiasticus xlvi. 6: "And with 
hailstones of mighty power he made the battle to 
fall violently upon the nations, and in the descent [of 
Beth-Horon] he destroyed them that resisted, that 
the nations might know all their strength, because he 
fought in the sight of the Lord, and he followed the 
Mighty One." What a sermon was this preached by 
the sun and moon! It fell upon Greek and Jew 
alike. In this all the nations saw the great strength 
of Israel, and accounted for it on the ground that 
"he fought in the sight of the Lord, and he followed 
the Mighty One." In this is seen the secret of every 
success, whether it be the little passionate temptings 
that assail us in private life or a contest in which 
nations with great armies are called to the field. 
"In his sight." We are made bold in following the 
Mighty One, and we will surely triumph. The van- 
quished look upon it with wonder and astonishment, 
and realize that a power is behind it all. What must 
have been the feelings of Israel's foes as they 
watched a poised sun that delayed the darkness, 
which perhaps they expected would hide them from 
the sword of their enemies ? What were the feelings 
22 



338 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

that filled the hearts of Israel's hosts? Then faith 
and fear were the whys that were rendered for this 
miracle. 

It was a military command, a second miracle. 
"And there was no day like that before it or after it, 
that the Lord harkened unto the voice of a man." 
That the sun stood still and that the moon stayed 
at the command of Joshua did not make this day 
wonderful; it simply made this day longer than 
other days. The thing that distinguished this day is 
found alone in the fact that God "harkened unto 
the voice of a man." "Harken" means to observe, 
to obey. The text makes it wonderf ul that the Lord 
should obey a man. Now take the connection, omit- 
ting the parenthetical clause, "in the day when the 
Lord delivered up the Amorites before the children 
of Israel," and the truth of the text is clear: "Then 
spake Joshua to the Lord and said in the sight of 
Israel, Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon." He 
spoke to the Lord and said: "Sun, stand thou still." 
The x>arty addressed is the party that obeyed. "The 
Lord God is a sun and shield." He is the one that 
harkened unto the voice of a man. He, at the com- 
mand of Joshua, stood still on the field of Gibeon. 
This fact alone made this day wonderful. Now, be- 
hind the screen, we see him, as leader of Israel's 
hosts, stop at the command of a man. We remember 
that after Joshua had crossed the Jordan he circum- 
cised all the male children of Israel. On their de- 
parture from Egypt all were circumcised. Those 
that had been born on the way had not been circum- 
cised. While in camp here at Gilgal they kept the 
Passover, and other ordinances were attended to. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. ( 339 

Joshua v. 13, 11: "And it came to pass, when Joshua 
was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, 
and, behold, there stood a man over against him with 
his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto 
him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our 
adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of 
the host of the Lord am I now come." Here he as- 
serts his captaincy to Joshua. If he appeared to 
others on this occasion, the text is silent. In our 
text under consideration Joshua spoke to the Lord 
and said in the sight of Israel. Here we think he 
manifested himself. Luke i. 80: "And the child 
grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the des- 
erts till the day of his showing unto Israel." He has 
led Israel's host to the end of this great journey, and 
now we believe that he is about to surrender his 
captaincy. The tabernacle was then pitched at Gil- 
gal, in the valley of Ajalon. We now have visible on 
the field Joshua, Israel, and the enemy; above, the 
sun and the moon — the former representing Jesus 
Christ and the latter the tabernacle. Psalm lxxxix. 
36, 37: "His seed shall endure forever, and his throne 
as the sun before me. It shall be established for- 
ever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heav- 
en." His (David's) seed shall endure forever; but 
"his throne as the sun before me." This can not re- 
fer to his temporal throne, for that perished many 
centuries ago. It can not refer to the orb of day, for 
his throne was to last as long "as the sun before me," 
and the sun still lasts. His throne is to last as long 
as the Sun of Righteousness, who stands before the 
Father. "It [David's throne] shall be established 
forever as the moon, and as a faithful witness in 



340 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

heaven." The relation of sun and moon bears a re- 
lation very similar to that maintained by Jesus 
Christ and the Church. Jesus Christ and the taber- 
nacle led the sojourn to the planting of the one 
and the manifestation of the other. The sun and the 
moon witnessed these two events in a sullen still- 
ness that lasted for the space of nearly a whole day. 
At the command of Joshua the luminaries stop over- 
head, while behind the screen the Captain of the 
hosts stops, and the tabernacle stays. Here it was 
set up and remained many years under David and 
Solomon. (1 Chron. xvi. 39; 2 Chron. i. 3.) The 
moon, representing the tabernacle, was not ordered 
to stand still, but to stop. Through the taberna- 
cle God manifested himself to the people; the tab- 
ernacle reflected his light, just as the moon does the 
light of the sun. Here is found the highest motive 
for this miracle. This is what made this day more 
wonderful ; it was not the act of stopping the sun and 
moon. Never before had "the Lord harkened unto 
the voice of a man." He had never before obeyed 
the voice of a man. Wherein had he obeyed the 
voice of a man? Just when Joshua spoke to the 
Lord and said: "Sun, stand thou still upon Gibeon; 
and thou, Moon, in the valley of Ajalon." We know 
that God had conversed with Adam, Enoch, Abra- 
ham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Aaron, and many others, 
but this is something higher than merely listening to 
man; it is harkening to the voice of a man, which 
he did on the field of Gibeon. It was really a double 
miracle: man, the instrument, executing the en- 
joinder, the sun and moon the visible parties en- 
joined; while the captain of Israel's hosts and the 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 341 

tabernacle, the invisible ones, pay a like obedience — 
making it both a physical and a spiritual miracle. 
The line that separates the two worlds, physical and 
spiritual, is but a curtain whose meshes are too close 
for our gross senses. The time is coming, says our 
hope, when we shall have our great reproach rolled 
from us, when we cease to eat manna in the wilder- 
ness, when the last struggle is being made, the last 
spiritual battle is being fought, and our hands reach 
out for the promise; then our visual sense will be 
quickened, the meshes of this curtain part; then we 
will realize with a perfect vision Joshua's miracle at 
Gibeon. At our bidding our spiritual sun will stand 
still till we make ourselves heirs, seizing on to the 
promise made to all the faithful of every age and 
every clime who have fought in the sight of the Lord 
and have followed the Mighty One. The Church has 
pitched its tent in the valley — this the stayed moon ; 
Jesus Christ, the poised Sun, stands over it. These 
will stand till every enemy is subdued. The five en- 
caved kings are the five human senses; it is against 
their hosts that we war. "Come near, put your feet 
upon the necks of these kings. . . . Fear not, nor 
be dismayed, be strong and of good courage: for thus 
shall the Lord do to all your enemies against whom 

ye fight." 

The Unsolved Question Solved. 

What moves these worlds along their orbits? Till 
now we have had a plumb-line; now we have none. 
The world does not know the cause of these motions; 
but the wall stands massive and high, the plumb- 
line drops from our hand, and we gaze up, up, up, 
above this bewildering coil, only to see the wall rise 



342 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

higher and higher, till we are filled with astonish- 
ment and lose ourselves in reflections concerning 
Him who has wrought all these things and who is 
perfect in knowledge, who made the earth by his 
power, established the world by his wisdom, and 
stretched out the heavens by his discretion. We 
believe light to be the cause of motion as seen in the 
sun, moon, and stars. Jeremiah xxxi. 35: "Thus 
saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by 
day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars 
for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the 
waves thereof roar." The ordinances of the moon 
and of the stars were given for light by night. These 
very ordinances of light lift the waves of the sea, 
becoming a great attractive force. 

Joshua, by command, stopped the sun and moon, 
and these stood still; but without a command, under 
the potent influence of light, they move on. The 
cause of these motions, the wisest of to-day do not 
pretend to know. The prophet Habakkuk gives the 
cause that moves worlds. Habakkuk iii. 11: "The 
sun and moon stood still in their habitation: at the 
light of thine arrows they went, and at the shining 
of thy glittering spear." "The sun and moon stood 
still in their habitation." "Habitation" is from 
Jiabeo, "to hold." Now to whatever these hold consti- 
tutes to them their habitation. These hold to their 
orbits; here we find them every time to a certainty. 
Eclipses, moon phases, the seasons, years, the fixed 
objects above us that the earth has been seeing since 
its creation, all attest the truth of this statement. 
These hold to fixed bounds or courses more rigidly 
than compass-directed ships on smooth, open seas. 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 3±3 

"At the light of thine arrows they went, and at the 
shining of thy glittering spear." No command, no 
material instrument moved these; it is light, the 
light of arrows, the shining of a glittering spear. 
The cause is repeated. Arrows, spears, and points 
have their uses as electrical appliances. We know 
that those planets nearest the sun move more rapid- 
ly along their orbits than those more remote; we 
know also that the intensity of light decreases as the 
square of the distance increases. By comparing the 
amount of light and heat received by the different 
planets to their different orbital velocities we find 
them in such close conformity that we are persuaded 
still more that light is the all-moving cause. There 
is a want of uniformity in the tables as given by va- 
rious authors; these apologize for this lack of uni- 
formity on the ground that it is due to errors in ob- 
servations. They differ even as to the earth's polar 
and equatorial diameters. These difficulties are ap- 
parent when we are told that a difference of thirty- 
six one-hundredths of a second in the sun's parallax 
makes a difference in our distance from that body of 
nearly four millions of miles. This small distance 
in the angle would about equal the breadth of a hu- 
man hair seen at a distance of one hundred and 
twenty-five feet. We believe also that the sun's re- 
puted parallax is but a compromise among several 
observations. The amount of light and heat re- 
ceived by each of the planets depends upon its dis- 
tance from the sun. These distances affect their or- 
bits, their velocities — that is, the orbits and veloci- 
ties are not what we say, unless the distances from 
the sun are just what we say. Arrows are offensive 



344 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

weapons; activity is illustrated by them. The spear 
is an emblem of authority. These are symbols of 
force. From them light leaps out and leads these 
great globes on. If the physical and spiritual worlds 
have special corners where they come together, so 
that the one can interpret the other, this then must 
be a copartnership corner. Jesus says: "I am the 
light of the world." This Light raises the dead, 
clothes the dry bones with skin and flesh, changes 
the forms of government; and our civilization, our 
government, our superiority, our abundance in all 
things that make us the head and not the tail, are 
the trophies of this light. Motion and activity are 
two of its elements. Like the sun, his apparent mo- 
tion is westward, while, in fact, we are but turning 
to Olivet and Calvary. He is a trinity of God the 
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. 
From him spiritual life comes — spiritual bread, spir- 
itual drink, spiritual growth. 

The Extent of Solar Influence. 

"Not only life, but all the grand phenomena of 
force with which we are familiar upon this planet, 
have their origin in the sun. His radiations govern 
the movements of terrestrial atoms, and in these the 
movements of masses take their rise." It is the 
great physical trinity — color, heat, and chemical 
rays. These are working all the wonders around us. 



CHAPTER XIII. 

Political Contrast — Rain-Making — A Prophecy Being Fulfilled 
— Vegetable Diet Against Meat and Wine — A Literal Devil — 
His First Estate. 

Political Contrast. 

To what nations have the promises of prosperity, 
of plenty, of happiness, been made? Ecclesiastes x. 
17: "Blessed art thou, O land, when thy king is the 
son of nobles, and thy princes eat in due season, for 
strength, and not for drunkenness!" Psalm xxxiii. 
12: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord." 
Deuteronomy xxxiii. 19: "They shall call the people 
unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of 
righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance 
of the seas, and of treasures hid in the sands." Deu- 
teronomy iv. 5-7: "Behold,! have taught you statutes 
and judgments, even as the Lord my God command- 
ed me, that ye should do so in the land whither ye go 
to possess it. Keep therefore and do them; for this 
is your wisdom and your understanding in the sight 
of the nations, which shall hear all these statutes, 
and say, Surely this great nation is a wise and un- 
derstanding people. For what nation is there so 
great, who hath God so nigh unto them, as the Lord 
our God is in all things that we call upon him for? " 
Deuteronomy xxviii. 1, 3-5, 10, 13: "And it shall 
come to pass, if thou shalt barken diligently unto 
the voice of the Lord thy God, to observe and to do 
all his commandments which I command thee this 

(945) 



346 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

day, that the Lord thy God will set thee on high 
above all nations of the earth. . . . Blessed shalt 
thou be in the city, and blessed shalt thou be in the 
field. Blessed shall be the fruit of thy body, and the 
fruit of thy ground, and the fruit of thy cattle, the 
increase of thy kine, and the flocks of thy sheep. 
Blessed shall be thy basket and thy store. . . . 
And all people of the earth shall see that thou art 
called by the name of the Lord [Christian nations] ; 
and they shall be afraid of thee. . . . And the 
Lord shall make thee the head, and not the tail; and 
thou shalt be above only, and thou shalt not be be- 
neath." Who have been the recipients of these bless- 
ings? Geographers tell us that "Christian nations 
are noted for their superiority in civilization, mental 
culture, and refinement of manners." To what na- 
tions have been made promises of adversity and sla- 
very? Deuteronomy xxviii. 15, 29, 33: "But it shall 
come to pass, if thou wilt not harken unto the voice 
of the Lord thy God, to observe to do all his com- 
mandments and his statutes which I command thee 
this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, 
and overtake thee. . . . And thou shalt grope at 
noonday, as the blind gropeth in darkness, and thou 
shalt not prosper in thy ways: and thou shalt be only 
oppressed and spoiled evermore, and no man shall 
save thee. . . . The fruit of thy land, and all thy 
labors, shall a nation which thou knowest not eat up; 
and thou shalt be only oppressed and crushed al- 
way." Who are the recipients of this curse? It can 
not be Christian nations, for these are noted for their 
superiority, and are the ones called by his name. 
Then it must be unchristianized nations. Where we 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 347 

find the most debasing forms of idolatry there we 
generally find the lowest stage of men. The one 
hundred and fifty millions of Chinese, who are sub- 
jects of British lords, eat and enjoy but little of the 
labor of their hands or the fruit of their fields or 
flocks. These purchase luxuries for a people they 
know nothing about. Liberty is the direct trophy 
of the gospel. It gives freedom from assumptious 
lords as well as from the bondage of sin, thus ele- 
vating our minds, filling us with a nobler nature, 
breathing into us a knowledge of the fact that our 
place is above only, and that none can despoil us. 
Ecclesiastes vii. 7: u Surely oppression maketh a wise 
man mad." Psalm cxliv. 15: "Happy is that people, 
whose God is the Lord," Let the history of every 
nation attest the truth of the Psalmist. 

Eain-Making. 

In considering this part of our work we do this 
without the plumb-line; we have no line to swing. 
Still, the wall continues massive and high. We 
write this in the face of failure and under a storm of 
ridicule from the public journals and even the pulpit. 
There are Bible statements that lead us in this opin- 
ion. We believe that the time will come when man 
will be able to produce condensations when meteor- 
ological conditions are favorable to this end. We 
never said nor intimated that man would ever be able 
to make the causes of rain ; only to produce condensa- 
tions under favorable conditions. To illustrate: It 
is now midwinter; a cold, damp atmosphere sur- 
rounds my room. I kindle a fire in the stove, and the 
temperature in the room rises. See those large glob- 



348 THE PLUME-LINE. 

ules of condensed vapors on the glass in the window? 
The atmospheric conditions were favorable and the 
lighting of a match produced a deposition of dew, in 
the same general manner that rain is produced from 
the clouds. This deposition was produced by arti- 
ficial means. We did this; we produced this not by 
command, but by applying the means in our power. 
The question of rain-making, as it was called, agi- 
tated the public mind a few years ago. The govern- 
ment aided by giving means to an experiment at rain- 
making. This experiment was marked by failure, 
according to rex^ort as furnished by the newspapers. 
The experiment was the result of observations made 
at the great battles of our late war. After many of 
these copious rains fell. It was said also that rains 
fell almost daily in the most arid deserts of the West- 
ern plateaus during the continuation of heavy blast- 
ing along a railroad in that section, and ceased when 
the blasting ceased. Could we consider these the 
cause of the above-mentioned condensation? The 
operators in the above work attributed these rains 
to the concussions produced by the heavy discharges. 
During the first day's experiments copious rains did 
follow, whether Gen. Dyrenforth laid claim to it or 
not. We will furnish you with the basis for our be- 
lief, and comment briefly. 

Job xxxviii. is a chapter full of the learning of to- 
day. In it is couched the learning which is sought 
in the colleges and higher institutions of the world. 
The causes or factors that bring rain are found in 
verses 22-27 of this chapter. These verses give the 
direct purpose of the rain. After giving the causes 
and the- purposes of the rain, the great Lecturer 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 349 

springs the question before us: "Hath the rain a 
father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? " 

''Hath the rain a father?" " Father" seems to be 
used as a verb: to adopt, to take the child of another 
as one's own, to profess to be the author. Rain is 
the creature of the Author of all things, as is man, 
the ox, or the horse. Heat, water, and air are the 
agents that place the waters above us in the clouds. 
Has man a father? As a Creator and Preserver he 
has. Then follows the order to multiply and replen- 
ish the earth. " Hath the rain a father," one to adopt 
it, to propose to be the author, the begetter from the 
first created mother of causes? It must have, else 
it is an orphan in a world of chance. Had the con- 
densations that followed Gen. Dyrenforth's effort 
been the result of this effort, then he would have 
been the reputed father of this rain. In the same 
sense man is the father of steam, as being directly the 
begetter of steam from the agents fire and water. 
He is the begetter of electricity from the agents wa- 
ter, copper, and zinc. The very question is suggest- 
ive; it comes in the most familiar, most comprehen- 
sive term: "Hath the rain a father?" Who will 
father the rain? 

"Or who hath begotten the drops of dew?" Here 
the terms are expressive: "Who, out of conditions, 
hath begotten not dew, but fathered the drops? 
Who begot the globules on our window? " 

"Out of whose womb came the ice?" "Womb," or 
matrix, a mold, the cavity in which anything is 
formed and which gives it shape. This process of 
ice-making is some one's, because it is symbolized by 
a thing which is the possession of animal and man 



350 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

only. The fixture for ice-making is a vacuum-pan, 
from which the vapor is removed as fast as gener- 
ated. The scientific physiologist need but watch the 
process of ice-making as seen in the tropics to ac- 
quaint himself with the growth of viviparous or 
oviparous animals from the embryo till birth. Had 
we been told one hundred years ago that our South- 
ern cities would manufacture their own ice under 
August suns, what crank would then have believed 
the story, much less have been foolish enough to 
propagate such a story? 

"Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst 
thou set the dominion thereof in the earth?" See 
our remark in another place on the term "heaven." 
Does the ability of setting up these ordinances or 
laws in the earth depend on knowing or understand- 
ing the laws? We know that Job or no other man, 
not even Gen. Dyrenforth, could operate these ordi- 
nances unless he understood them. We do not say 
that to understand gives the ability to operate them, 
but in this instance it is suggestive of ability. Then 
the first work is to understand well the workings of 
the law. Gen. Dyrenforth only followed in part 
the instructions. He tried to learn the ordinances 
as the experiment progressed. He should have 
known the laws before he began the work of setting 
them up in the earth. An investigating mind can 
not read the above questions without being im- 
pressed with the thought that in some way there is a 
practical utility in them, or God would not have 
asked them. Greater sermons have been preached 
by the scientific world from texts far less expressive. 
From the falling of an apple Newton preached cir- 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 351 

cular orbits for the planets ; while Galileo, from the 
motions of a swinging lamp, evolved the law that 
marked the descent of this apple. Following the 
foregoing questions comes a question which assumes 
not only the answer, but suggests a process for ob- 
taining that end. As we have said before, this 
is a peculiar characteristic of this entire chapter. 
"Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that 
abundance of waters may cover thee?" Why did he 
not ask: "Can you produce a precipitation, Job?" 
The idea is this: "If you can lift up your voice to the 
clouds, then the waters will come down upon yon, 
the place from whence the voice was lifted." "Lift 
up thy voice" admits of three interpretations: 1. To 
simply command the clouds to let down rain. 2. To 
elevate the voice in pitch or loudness. 3. To elevate 
the voice to the clouds, and there give utterance; or, 
more definitely, elevate the vocalizing body to the 
clouds, and speak in a language understood by the 
clouds, that the clouds may obey. It must go to these 
in the language of the law, or they never would un- 
derstand, and we think the latter the interpretation 
designed; while the second was that which produced 
condensations after the memorable battles of Mexico 
and those of the rebellion and the precipitations on 
our arid Western plains, but were ineffective in the 
experiments made by the government. The cause, 
however, is apparent: the voice of the government 
was not lifted to the clouds, but to a sky of burning 
brass. "Voice," says Mr. Webster, "the sense of 
the verb is to throw out or drive out sound," and 
voice is the thing driven out or sound simply. 

Psalm xciii. 3: "The floods have lifted up their 



352 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

voice." The idea here is that of both our second and 
third interpretations. The floods increase the sound 
of sea-motion above the ordinary movement. The 
floods really lift higher their crests, the vocalizing 
bodies. Voice is a representative force. "Let us 
call on God in the voice of the Chuch." Here it is the 
power of the Church. Shakespeare says: "I have 
no words; my voice is my sword." Our nation par- 
ticipated in the experiment. The thought originated 
from the terrible conflicts of contending armies. The 
voice of a nation rings out from the tramp of its sol- 
diers, the rattle of its musketry, and the boom of its 
cannon. These represent the sum of all the forces of 
a nation. Ask the hills around Bull Run, Fort Don- 
elson, Shiloh, Fredericksburg, Richmond, and Get- 
tysburg what made them shake and tremble on those 
fearful days of the rebellion and they will tell you 
that it was the thunders of a nation's voice. Ask 
why and whence came the rain that followed close on 
these. "To the eloads." A cloud is a collection of 
visible vapor or watery particles suspended in the 
atmosphere at some altitude. "Lift up thy voice to 
the clouds," the law and the limit. Our rain-makers 
lifted the voice of the nation when and where there 
were no clouds. So we miss the desired result every 
time we deviate from the word and the law. Come 
to my conditions, apply the means suggested, and 
success will crown every effort. It can no more fail 
than can the sun fail to shine. 

"Abundance of waters." This means enough for 
every purpose. Does it not imply a scarcity? If it 
takes at any time the foregoing process of lifting the 
voice to the clouds, that an abundance of waters may 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 353 

fall on us, then of a truth there are times of scarcity. 
Jeremiah xiv. 22: "Are there any among the vanities 
of the Gentiles that can cause rain? or can the heav- 
ens give showers? Art not thou he, O Lord our 
God? therefore we will wait upon thee: for thou hast 
made all these things." We do not believe that the 
vanities of any sect or nation could cause rain. If a 
scientist, this precludes the idea of vanity. With- 
out knowledge we see ourselves only, and that 
through a powerful glass. As knowledge increases 
our eyes turn more from self till self is nothing in 
the world of wonders spread out everywhere, that 
teach us God. We go to self from God, and go to 
God from self. The ability of the heavens to give 
showers is as feeble as are the vanities of the Gen- 
tiles to cause rain. "Art not thou he, O Lord our 
God?" He is the Author of all the causes. Man, in 
every instance, in all his life, uses these causes to 
answer every purpose in his life. The limit to which 
he may extend his ability to use these causes we do 
not know; it is extending in every direction. "There- 
fore we will wait upon thee." Humility toward God 
and a persistent determination to find him in the 
w T ays of his wondrous works place us where he has 
promised to keep back no good thing. He says that 
these ordinances are his servants. If we attribute 
all to law alone, we become law-worshipers, base 
idolators ; then we worship the servant to the neglect 
of the Lord of the house. 

A Prophecy Now Being Fulfilled. 
Mark xiv. 9: "Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever 
this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole 
23 



354 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of 
for a memorial of her." The incident of the woman 
and the alabaster box of ointment brought from the 
Saviour indirectly a prophecy that comes within the 
scope of modern readers to determine whether or not 
it is a prophecy, and also to determine whether or not 
it has been fulfilled, or is now being fulfilled, with 
fair prospects for its final fulfilment. This prophe- 
cy was uttered by the Saviour on the night before 
his crucifixion. This gospel is to be preached 
throughout the whole world. The thing enjoined is 
to tell what this woman has done. From a human 
standpoint, no prediction ever went forth with so 
many apparent impossibilities against its fulfil- 
ment. The Leader was being hounded before the 
last tribunal, and he knew it. Of the twelve apos- 
tles, one is now bartering his betrayal; another is to 
deny him in the final struggle. He, the Leader, a 
moment after the above utterances, is on his face, 
praying that the hour might pass. The breath of his 
fame extended over a circle of only a few hundred 
miles, and that scarcely above mockery. Had Caasar 
— fresh from a hundred pitched battles, stained with 
the blood of a million murdered men — said, "My 
power, my dominion, shall extend throughout the 
whole world," even the thoughtful would have shud- 
dered with secret fears of such a possibility. Had 
Napoleon, on his return from Elba, when his magnifi- 
cent army moved toward Waterloo, said, "My domin- 
ion shall extend throughout the whole world," his 
followers, to say the least of it, would have thought 
the thing possible and probable. Before these, Alex- 
ander had sent his name throughout the then known 



THE PLUMB-LINE. 355 

world till they say kk he wept that there were no more 
worlds for him to conquer." Those that said such 
things felt that this world was his dominion. The 
kingdoms of these men, like themselves, were with- 
out foundation, and so went down with them. Is 
this gospel being preached? Is it not extending? 
The western hemisphere certainly was not known for 
fifteen hundred years after. Now it has spread, has 
been preached from Cape Horn to Cape Kaler, from 
Bering Strait to that of Magellan, from the Atlantic 
to the Pacific. Along nearly all the parallels of this 
great country, on all the rivers, lakes, and oceans, go 
up songs of praise to the great Prophet. "Whereso- 
ever this gospel shall be preached,-' at every altar, 
" throughout the whole world, this also that she hath 
done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." No 
human agency could have wrought the wonders 
wrought by the gospel. How seemingly impossible, 
then, that this little flock without a shepherd, a lead- 
er, should rear a kingdom that should fill the earth as 
the waters cover the sea! Kings pass from the 
stage, their kingdoms go with them. Not so with 
this kingdom; the King was taken, but his kingdom 
grew on. The things that overthrew earthly king- 
doms were pillars to this. Fires purified, persecu- 
tions were pentecosts. Tell the story of this woman! 

Vegetable Diet Against Meat and Wine, 

Historical— Daniel i. 5, 8, 11, 12, 14-16: "And the 
king appointed them a daily provision of the king's 
meat, and of the wine which he drank. . . . But 
Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile 
himself with the portion of the king's meat, nor with 



356 THE PLUMB-LINE. 

the wine which he drank. . . . Then said Daniel 
to Melzar, . . . Give us pulse to eat, and water 
to drink. . , . So he consented to them in this 
matter, and . . . took away the portion of their 
meat, and the wine that they should drink; and gave 
them pulse [beans and peas]/' "At the end of ten 
days their countenances appeared fairer and fatter 
in flesh than all the children which did eat the por- 
tion of the king's meat." 

A Literal Devil. 

The devil is the prince of darkness. If we take 
away the d from his name, we have evil, wicked. 
Dropping now the e, we have vil, depraved by sin. 
Dropping the v, we have il, depravity. Leaving off 
the i, we have I, the place of punishment for the wick- 
ed after death, the capital of this empire, the home of 
this prince, the destination of the evil, the tendency 
of the vile, the reward of the depraved. All com- 
bined is the devil. The last is his abode. Between 
him and the pit are his subjects. Restoring these 
letters and transferring, we have lived, the indefinite 
past tense. Perhaps he did at one time live in light, 
lived for all the word has in possibility. What a dif- 
ference inversion makes! Is it a change of name, 
or is it a change of all the elements of self that turn 
one around? As devil ends with I, starting here we 
return toward life. Conversion is all of it. The 
devil lost his first estate, became the father of death, 
and his name reversed, so that in looking back it 
might ever remind him of what he was. Let us not 
forget that a good name is better than rubies, more 
to be desired than fine gold. 



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